Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance sign merger agreement

(KYMA, NBC) - Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Paramount Skydance announced they have signed a more than $110 billion merger agreement Friday.

This comes a day after Netflix announced they declined to raise its offer for WBD after the company told Netflix that Paramount's latest offer was superior.

Earlier this week, Paramount raised its previous offer from $30 per share to $31 per share after WBD gave Paramount a week to come up with a "best and final offer."

"From the very beginning, our pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery has been guided by a clear purpose: to honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company. By bringing together these world-class studios, our complementary streaming platforms, and the extraordinary talent behind them, we will create even greater value for audiences, partners and shareholders — and we couldn't be more excited for what's ahead."

David Ellison, Chairman and CEO, Paramount Skydance

"I'm very pleased with the outcome we achieved for WBD shareholders and the entertainment industry. Our guiding principle throughout this process has been to secure a transaction that maximizes the value of our iconic assets and our century old studio while delivering as much certainty as possible for our investors. We look forward to working with Paramount to complete this historic transaction."

David Zaslav, President and CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery

Back in December of last year, Netflix reached an agreement to buy WBD for nearly $83 billion to acquire both the studio and streaming platform HBO Max.

Following this, Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid to buy the entirety of WBD for $30 per share, which WBD initially rejected.

Before the Netflix-WBD deal fell through, Netflix revised its offer to an all-cash transaction, and WBD had set to hold a special meeting of shareholders to vote on the Netflix deal for March 20.

After the Netflix-WBD deal fell through, Paramount paid Netflix a $2.8 billion termination fee, according to Netflix.

The Paramount Skydance-WBD deal is expected to close within six to 12 months. Any deal would require approval from federal regulators, a process President Donald Trump has indicted multiple times that he would be personally involved.