Main points
- Paramount increased the price of Warner Bros shares to $31, valuing the company at $108 billion.
- Netflix refused to beat Paramount's offer, considering it financially unprofitable, and pulled out of the deal.
Paramount managed to intercept the film giant Warner Bros / Reuters
Paramount increased the price of Warner Bros. shares, and Netflix refused to match that offer. As a result, the streaming platform had to back out of the deal, and Paramount now has every chance of acquiring the rights to famous film masterpieces.
Why is Netflix pulling out of the deal?
WBD's board of directors called Paramount's offer of $31 per share more advantageous, Reuters writes.
Netflix announced that it would not increase its offer to buy Warner Bros., so it left the game.
At the price required to match Paramount Skydance's latest offer, this deal is no longer financially attractive, so we decline to compete with Paramount Skydance's bid,
– said the statement of two Netflix executives, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.
At $31 a share, Warner Bros. is valued at $108 billion. Paramount also offered to pay $7 billion if the deal fell through.
By the way, the Paramount Skydance conglomerate is owned by the Ellison family, close to Donald Trump. If approved by regulators, Paramount will gain control of HBO Max, CNN, the Food Network and a number of sports services.
Paramount has its own streaming service, although it is less popular than Netflix or HBO Max, and it also owns the Nickelodeon, CBS, and Comedy Central brands.
The deal will require approval from regulators loyal to Donald Trump, with California Attorney General Rob Bonta already saying that the Paramount-Warner Bros merger is “not resolved.”
These two Hollywood titans have failed regulatory scrutiny – the California Department of Justice has an open investigation, and we will conduct our review thoroughly,
– Bonta wrote on social networks.
What is known about the sale of Warner Bros?
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Paramount Skydance, Comcast, and Netflix are all competing to acquire Warner Bros., with Paramount wanting to buy the entire company and Comcast and Netflix interested in the film and television library. Netflix has even promised to release the studio's films in theaters if it succeeds in buying Warner Bros.
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On December 5, Netflix announced its $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., including the film and television studios HBO Max. The deal was expected to close after the spinoff of WBD's global networks division, Discovery Global, into a new public company in the third quarter of 2026.
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Filmmakers later called on the US Congress to intervene, warning of a crisis in Hollywood if the merger were to occur due to Netflix's potential impact on the movie theater market. The reason was fears of mass layoffs and antitrust issues.