Global streaming giant Netflix has pulled out of the race to acquire US media giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), leaving rival Paramount open to complete a transaction that could shake up the broadcasting world.
For months, Netflix has been the preferred bidder for the sought-after promotion, which was put up for sale last year, but Paramount’s repeated attempts to outbid the streamer and its public chase of the company meant that a deal was never reached.
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Now, Netflix has conceded defeat, revealing that WBD’s board of directors has termed Paramount’s offer a “superior proposal”.
Paramount’s offer stands at around $111 billion (including debt), coming in at $31 per share, far in excess of Netflix’s $82 billion agreement.
A joint statement published by Netflix co-chiefs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said: “The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. 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.”
They continue: “Netflix’s business is healthy, strong, and growing organically, powered by our slate and best-in-class streaming service. This year, we’ll invest approximately $20 billion in quality films and series and will expand our entertainment offering. Consistent with our capital allocation policy, we’ll also resume our share repurchase program.”
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By GlobalDataShould the merger pass regulatory scrutiny (a likely prospect given Paramount owner Larry Ellison’s close relationship with US president Donald Trump), it would create a sports rights behemoth that would encompass a major suite of rights across the US and globally.
Paramount’s CBS Sports network holds rights to several major properties, including European club soccer’s UEFA Champions League, American football’s NFL, PGA Tour golf, and top-tier college sports. In 2024, it aired the most-watched NFL Super Bowl in history.
Its Paramount+ streaming serve has, as of late, become its primary sports rights vehicle, striking multi-year rights agreements with the TKO-owned Zuffa Boxing organization and MMA promotion UFC.
In terms of WBD's major sports rights, meanwhile, in the US it has a domestic rights stable that includes the French Open tennis grand slam, Major League Baseball, college football, and ice hockey’s NHL, as well as an expansive international portfolio that also includes the HBO Max service.
This week, both companies published their financial results for the fourth quarter of the 2025 calendar year, with each company’s streaming business expanding across the quarter.
Paramount generated $8.15 billion in revenue across the quarter, but fell to a net loss of $573 million, more than double its net loss in the same quarter of 2024.
Despite that, its streaming business (the organization’s focus as cable TV continues to struggle) grew, with Paramount+ generating $1.8 billion in revenue (up 17%), and growing its subscriber base by 1 million over the three months.
WBD, for its part, cut its loss over the fourth quarter down to $252 million (almost half of what it lost a year prior), but overall revenue also fell year-on-year down to $9.5 billion (a 6% decrease).
The growth of its streaming business was, however, as great, if not even greater, than Paramount’s, with an additional 3.5 million subscribers secured across the quarter compared to Q3, and streaming revenue up 5% to $2.8 billion.
