The adviser said Netflix was bidding against a billionaire who signaled a willingness to pay a price for Warner Bros that Netflix viewed as irrational.
Posted on 02/26/2026 5:40:11 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Paramount Skydance (PSKY) emerged as the likely winner in a m, after streaming giant Netflix (NFLX), on Thursday refused to raise its bid for the storied Hollywood studio.
"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," Netflix said in a statement.
Netflix confirmed to Reuters that it was walking away from bidding for Warner Bros Discovery. The Warner Bros board still has to terminate the Netflix deal and adopt Paramount Skydance's offer.
"Once our board votes to adopt the Paramount merger agreement, it will create tremendous value for our shareholders," Warner CEO David Zaslav said in a statement. "We are excited about the potential of a combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery and can’t wait to get started working together telling the stories that move the world."
Paramount maintained its dogged pursuit of Warner Bros, launching a hostile campaign to wrest the prize from Netflix. It managed to lure Warner Bros back to the bargaining table last week, with the potential of an increased cash offer for the company.
Earlier in the day, Warner Bros said Paramount's revised $31-a-share offer was superior to Netflix's bid of $27.75 per share for Warner Bros' streaming and studio assets.
A Netflix adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had recommended the streaming service should bow out of the bidding because the deal no longer made economic sense. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos hinted that the streaming giant would not substantially raise its offer in a February 20 interview with Fox News' Liz Claman, where he emphasized that Netflix has been "very disciplined buyers."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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Hopefully James Gunn gets shitcanned.
The fun part -
CNN (owned by WB) will now fall under Paramount’s News Division, controlled by ... Bari Weiss, who Leftists were howling over when she canned Stephen Colbert last fall
Now it gets interesting ...
I think I read Paramount and Larry Ellison are broke.
Seems Larry has been borrowing 10’s of billions with Oracle to build out AI data centers to compete with the big dogs.
He’s helping his kid (Skydance) put together the deal with Paramount...with Larry pledging $40bil of the expected $108bil deal...all in Oracle stock. Not cash.
Don’t be surprised if they cannot raise the money, not the least for the reason they’re paying too much.
Maybe nobody buys WBD.
A cesspool buys a garbage dump after a sewer-main walks away from the deal. How captivating!
AT&T bought Time Warner for $85 billion.
AT&T sold Time Warner for $43 billion and some equity.
Paramount is paying $111 billion for Discovery Time Warner.
Meanwhile, AT&T is getting $100 million from the taxpayers for moving out of Dallas. Meaning there may not be enough OPM to also build an arena for an NHL team that is fleeing Dallas.
I think in the long run, Netflix will be better off because I believe Paramont has overpaid grossly for Warner Brothers.
Buy it, Musk!
Warner Bros is the worst run entertainment company in history. That’s a very crowded space considering Disney and Paramount have destroyed all their valuable IPs. They have Harry Potter, DC Comics, Middle Earth, GOT to name a few. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman are worth more than all of Marvel comics combined. If Paramount can clean house there, and hire someone competent, they could recoup that money on DC comics alone.
All you need to know is the far left and most of Hollywood are fuming that a Trump ally won the bidding
https://deadline.com/2026/02/warner-bros-paramount-merger-reactions-1236738004/
https://deadline.com/2026/02/elizabeth-warren-paramount-warner-bros-merger-1236738200/
Yes, here’s hoping.
Very.
also as for the stock chart, let’s take a look at today’s results as it became clear Paramount had prevailed
Paramount Skydance +10% today
https://www.financecharts.com/stocks/PSKY
Warner Bros Discovery -0.4%
https://www.financecharts.com/stocks/WBD
I’ve been a buyer of NFLX. Hope this marks the beginning of a recovery rally!
Larry is still loaded. He won’t need to sell his $490 million yacht.
Anderson Cooper will still work for Bari. Ha Ha.
Wonder if he will quit.
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