Netflix Inc. executives announced a decision to walk away from its proposal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after declining to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer.
“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a joint statement. “However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”
Paramount raised its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery to an all-cash offer of $31 per share, up from $30 per share, earlier this week.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced earlier in the day that its Board of Directors determined Paramount’s bid was a “Company Superior Proposal” after meeting with independent financial and legal advisors.
Paramount’s purchase price included an all-cash $31 per-share bid, a daily ticking fee equal to $0.25 per share per quarter starting after Sept. 30, and a $7 billion regulatory termination fee if the deal is rejected by federal regulators. The deal also included a termination fee of $2.8 billion that Warner Bros. Discovery would be required to pay to Netflix to terminate the merger agreement.
The board’s finding gave Netflix four days to propose revisions to its merger agreement to try to surpass Paramount’s bid, but Netflix decided to withdraw from the bidding instead, ending an $82.7 billion merger agreement that started Dec. 5, 2025.
Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance did not return requests for comment on Netflix’s announcement.
The announcement ends the escalating battle for the legendary studio born during Hollywood’s golden age.
First founded in 1923 by Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, the company launched the careers of John Barrymore, Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, James Cagney, and Humphrey Bogart, just to name a few.
Warner Bros. Discovery has a valuable library of popular and classic films that could boost Paramount’s streaming platform, Paramount+.
Netflix executives plan to continue growing as a public company as a streaming service, according to its statement. They plan to invest about $20 billion in films and series, and expand entertainment offerings.
Industry reaction to the initial Netflix merger was mixed.
Former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said it would impact competition.
“If I was tasked with doing so, I could not think of a more effective way to reduce competition in Hollywood than selling [Warner Bros. Discovery] to Netflix,” Kilar posted on X on Dec. 4, 2025.
The Directors Guild of America said the merger raised “significant concerns” and planned to meet with Netflix to outline its issues.
The guild has not yet issued a statement following the withdrawal of Netflix’s offer.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union, which represents industry workers, declined to comment on the announcement.
