{"id":5568,"date":"2026-02-28T17:09:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/28\/netflix-wont-increase-its-offer-for-warner-bros-ceding-bidding-war-to-paramount\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T17:09:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:09:05","slug":"netflix-wont-increase-its-offer-for-warner-bros-ceding-bidding-war-to-paramount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/28\/netflix-wont-increase-its-offer-for-warner-bros-ceding-bidding-war-to-paramount\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix won’t increase its offer for Warner Bros., ceding bidding war to Paramount"},"content":{"rendered":"

Netflix said Thursday <\/strong>it would not submit a higher offer for Warner Bros. Discovery after the company\u2019s board described Paramount Skydance\u2019s latest offer as \u201csuperior.\u201d <\/p>\n

The stunning twist leaves Paramount Skydance, headed by CEO David Ellison, as the remaining bidder and in position to take control of the storied media giant.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Paramount\u2019s bid was for the entire company, while Netflix was seeking to acquire only its streaming service, HBO cable channel and film studio business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,\u201d Netflix said in a statement Thursday afternoon<\/a>. \u201cHowever, we\u2019ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance\u2019s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said that \u201cthis transaction was always a \u2018nice to have\u2019 at the right price, not a \u2018must have\u2019 at any price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix shares soared as much as 15% in after-hours trading on the news, signaling relief from shareholders who have seen the stock decline by more than 20% since the Warner Bros. Discovery-Netflix bid was officially announced in December.<\/p>\n

Paramount\u2019s updated offer, released Tuesday<\/a>, raised the purchase price to $31 a share from $30 \u2014 a deal that would value Warner Bros. Discovery at roughly $77 billion. The proposal also included a $7 billion reverse termination fee if regulators block the deal, along with reimbursement for Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s potential cost to cancel its deal with Netflix.<\/p>\n

Including Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s debt, the takeover bid comes to a grand total of more than $110 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased WBD\u2019s Board has unanimously affirmed the superior value of our offer,\u201d Ellison said. He said his deal would offer \u201ccertainty and speed to closing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deal is not finalized yet, however. A Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder vote is scheduled for March 20, and the company and Paramount will need to agree to and release specific and detailed deal terms soon. <\/p>\n

Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s board of directors will also have to approve a formal termination of the Netflix agreement. The board could vote on that as early as Friday, a person familiar the situation said.<\/p>\n

A deal between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery would also need to be approved by government regulators.<\/p>\n

“Netflix is a great company and throughout this process Ted, Greg, Spence and everyone there have been extraordinary partners to us. We wish them well in the future,” David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Zaslav said that once the Warner Bros. Discovery board “votes to adopt the Paramount merger agreement, it will create tremendous value for our shareholders.” He added that he is “excited about the potential” the deal will generate.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. Discovery Chairman Samuel Di Piazza said in a statement that he was “extremely proud of the rigorous process this Board has run over the past five and a half months that has led us to the cusp of combining these two storied companies and the excitement it will bring to audiences for many years to come.”<\/p>\n

Paramount originally sparked a bidding war last fall when it began submitting unsolicited bids for Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD, which owns CNN and HBO, declined multiple bids before it agreed in December to sell parts of the company to Netflix in a $72 billion deal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Netflix has been actively lobbying for its bid, and despite Paramount\u2019s many failed bids, it, too, has been staying in the discussion about the future of Warner Bros. Discovery in Washington and beyond.<\/p>\n

Ellison was in Washington this week attending President Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union address as a guest of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., according to a photo on X<\/a>. Sarandos, of Netflix, was also seen arriving at the White House<\/a> just before 4 p.m. ET Thursday.<\/p>\n

Sarandos visited Trump in the Oval Office last year, with Trump describing him as \u201cfantastic\u201d on Dec. 7. But moments later, he said a Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery combination \u201ccould be a problem\u201d because of how much market share the resulting company would have.<\/p>\n

Sarandos also testified at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing this month<\/a>, arguing that Netflix\u2019s proposed deal with Warner Bros. would \u201ccreate more economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Skydance
The Paramount studios in Los Angeles in August.<\/span>Eric Thayer \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is not a typical media merger where you end up with what\u2019s called the Noah\u2019s Ark problem \u2014 two of everything,\u201d Sarandos said at the time. \u201cWe are buying a company that has assets that we do not, and we will keep investing in those.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, the same subcommittee announced a second hearing on Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery scheduled for Wednesday. It was unclear late Thursday whether the panel would pivot to examining the Paramount deal now that Netflix has bowed out. <\/p>\n

But an aide to Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, the subcommittee’s top Democrat, said Ellison had previously told Booker that “Paramount would be willing to testify before Congress were it to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.” <\/p>\n

“Next week\u2019s hearing presents a timely and appropriate opportunity for Mr. Ellison to make good on that commitment,” the aide said.<\/p>\n

Ellison is the son of Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle. The Ellisons are the controlling shareholders<\/a> of Paramount, and the elder Ellison has a close relationship with Trump.<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump has also given conflicting signals about how he feels about the Ellisons and Paramount. After the Trump administration approved the Ellisons\u2019 takeover of Paramount, Trump said on Truth Social that \u201c60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called \u2018takeover,\u2019 than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I\u2019d hate to see my enemies!\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump recently told NBC News that he would stay out of the antitrust process, but he previously indicated multiple times that he would be personally involved.<\/p>\n

Before Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery had consistently categorized the Netflix proposal as the superior bid for shareholders.<\/p>\n

A prominent investor, Mario Gabelli, whose firm GAMCO owns more than 5 million shares of Warner Bros., told NBC News that \u201cthe board finally woke up and did the math\u201d on Paramount\u2019s revised offer, calling it the superior valuation for shareholders. Gabelli has consistently favored the Paramount deal, having previously told NBC News that Netflix\u2019s initial offer was overly complicated compared with Paramount\u2019s.<\/p>\n

If it is completed, the deal could result in major changes for many household brands. For example, CNN would become a part of Paramount, which owns CBS News.<\/p>\n

CBS News has been undergoing its own transformation. Former New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss, who was named editor-in-chief of the network\u2019s news division, has overhauled \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d and added a number of controversial figures as contributors.<\/p>\n

Already, CBS News has become a flash point for the Ellisons and Weiss after at least one major \u201c60 Minutes\u201d piece that focused on the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policies was held<\/a>. Weiss said at the time that the piece was not \u201cready.\u201d<\/p>\n

HBO would also join the same company as Showtime, a competing cable channel, and the HBO Max and Paramount+ streaming services would be under the same roof, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netflix said Thursday it would not submit a higher offer for Warner Bros. Discovery after the company\u2019s board described Paramount Skydance\u2019s latest offer as \u201csuperior.\u201d The stunning twist leaves Paramount Skydance, headed by CEO David Ellison, as the remaining bidder and in position to take control of the storied media giant. Paramount\u2019s bid was for <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}