Netflix Walks Away From Bidding War for Warner Bros., Leaving the Path Open For Paramount to Win

Netflix has announced that it has declined to raise its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, meaning Paramount Skydance now has a clear path to win the bidding war for the company in charge of Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, the DC Universe, and much more.

Netflix shared a memo today that included its response to WB’s board of directors, stating Paramount’s latest proposal was “superior” to the existing merger agreement it had with Netflix.

“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix’s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote. “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.

“Warner Bros. is a world-class organization, and we want to thank David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Bruce Campbell, Brad Singer and the WBD Board for running a fair and rigorous process. We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S. But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.

“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 entertaining offering. Consistent with our capital allocation policy, we’ll also resume our share repurchase program.

“We will continue to do what we’ve done for more than 20 years as a public company: delight our members, profitably grow our business, and drive long-term shareholder value.”

Paramount’s latest $31 per share also offer gives shareholders extra cash for each quarter the deal would fail to close after this year (about $650 million), and it would cover the $2.8 billion it would owe Netflix for walking away from the existing agreement.

So, as it ends, Netflix’s nearly $83 billion deal couldn’t quite match the roughly $111 billion deal from Paramount.

This is a change of tune, as Warner Bros. had mentioned to its shareholders two months ago that it should reject Paramount’s takeover bid for the company.

Photo by Anna Barclay/Getty Images.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.