![\"Warner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772150530_714_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nWASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Netflix bowed out of the Warner Bros. Discovery sweepstakes Thursday, conceding the prize to Paramount Skydance.<\/p>\n
The move came after Warner Bros. Discovery switched gears, announcing that Paramount Skydance\u2019s revised bid had topped the one on the table from Netflix. <\/p>\n
Warner\u2019s reversal is the latest twist in Hollywood\u2019s biggest auction in years \u2014 and five months after Paramount Chairman David Ellison began his dogged pursuit of the larger media company. Netflix was given four business days to regroup and potentially submit a higher offer; but late Thursday, Netflix announced that it had no intention to raise its bid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\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 Netflix Co-Chief Executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Warner Bros. Discovery said its board, in consultation with its bankers and lawyers, determined Paramount\u2019s most recent offer constitutes a \u201csuperior proposal,\u201d compared to the Netflix deal. <\/p>\n
Paramount on late Monday offered to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery for $31 a share in cash. Paramount had previously bid $30 a share. Paramount\u2019s updated proposal contained several key sweeteners, including a commitment from tech billionaire Larry Ellison, through his Ellison Trust, to guarantee $45.7 billion in equity financing.<\/p>\n
Larry Ellison, one of the world\u2019s richest men, is personally backing his son\u2019s bid to combine two historic studios to create a new Hollywood behemoth. Warner Bros. Discovery had demanded that Paramount line up more secure financing. <\/p>\n
Netflix has offered $27.75 a share \u2014 but the streaming giant only wants Warner\u2019s HBO, HBO Max and the Warner Bros. film and television studios in Burbank. Concerns have been growing that Netflix would face push-back from regulators as it seeks to swallow one of Hollywood\u2019s historic film studios behind \u201cSuperman,\u201d \u201cCasablanca\u201d and \u201cThe Matrix.\u201d <\/p>\n
Paramount\u2019s offer includes acquiring HBO, the Burbank studios and Warner\u2019s cable television channels like CNN and HGTV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pleased WBD\u2019s Board has unanimously affirmed the superior value of our offer, which delivers to WBD shareholders superior value, certainty and speed to closing,\u201d said David Ellison, Paramount\u2019s chairman and chief executive.<\/p>\n
Paramount also agreed to pay a $2.8 billion break-up fee that Warner would owe Netflix if Warner backs out of the deal signed on Dec. 4. Among its other concessions, the company agreed to increase the $31 a share offer should the regulatory review stretch beyond October. It also agreed to pay $7 billion should the deal fail to garner the blessing of regulators. <\/p>\n
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and Apollo have agreed to provide $57.5 billion in debt financing.<\/p>\n
Netflix did not immediately comment.<\/p>\n
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Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. <\/p>\n
(Eric Thayer\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to believe [Paramount] will ultimately win the auction,\u201d TD Cowen media analyst Doug Creutz said in a Thursday note to investors.<\/p>\n
The new wrinkle comes as the auction has taken on increasingly political dimensions. Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos made a trek to the White House on Thursday at a pivotal moment for the streaming giant, which itself has been navigating the high-stakes bidding war <\/a>to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n Sarandos met with White House staff members and Justice Department officials, according to two people familiar with the meeting. The visit was arranged more than two weeks ago and President Trump was not scheduled to attend.<\/p>\n The White House and Netflix declined to comment on the substance of the meeting, but it emerges as the media giant has come under pressure by the president to fire board member Susan Rice<\/a>, a former Biden administration adviser that Trump recently called a \u201cpolitical hack.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump warned that if Netflix did not fire Rice, the company would \u201cpay the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n The president\u2019s demands to fire Rice marked a shift in the president\u2019s involvement with Netflix\u2019s business as it seeks to acquire Warner Bros.<\/p>\n