Netflix ditches Warner Bros. Discovery deal after Paramount offer deemed superior

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos arrives at the White House on Feb. 26, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Andrew Leyden | Getty Images

Netflix is walking away from a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets after the WBD board on Thursday deemed a revised bid by Paramount Skydance to be superior.

Earlier this week, Paramount raised its offer to buy the entirety of WBD to $31 per share, up from $30 per share, all cash. It was the latest amendment to Paramount’s multiple offers in recent months — and since moving forward with a hostile bid to buy the company — and it’s now unseated a deal between WBD and Netflix to sell the legacy media company’s studio and streaming businesses for $27.75 per share.

Last week, Netflix granted WBD a seven-day waiver under the terms of their agreement to reengage with Paramount, resulting in the higher bid. Paramount’s offer is for the entirety of WBD, including its pay TV networks, such as CNN, TBS and TNT.

Netflix had four business days to make changes to its own proposal in light of Paramount’s superior bid, the WBD board said in a statement Thursday.

Instead, the decision by the streaming giant to walk away puts a pin in a drawn-out saga that saw amended offers from both bidders.

The latest Paramount bid included a $7 billion breakup fee in the event the proposed merger doesn’t win regulatory approval. The company also agreed to pay the $2.8 billion breakup fee that WBD would owe Netflix if that deal didn’t go through.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin in an interview last week that the company granted WBD the waiver to reopen Paramount talks in order to give shareholders clarity.

“Paramount had been making a ton of noise, flooding the zone with confusion for shareholders … including floating all these hypothetical offers and talking directly to the shareholders and bypassing the Warner Bros. Discovery board,” Sarandos said at the time. “So we’ve given the opportunity to get those shareholders exactly what they deserve, which is complete clarity and certainty.”

However, Sarandos had fallen short of commenting on whether Netflix would up its own offer to match a revised Paramount bid.

WBD said Thursday its board continued to recommend in favor of the Netflix deal and hasn’t withdrawn or modified its recommendation.

This news is developing. Please check back for updates.