Warner Bros. Discovery said Thursday it prefers a fresh, higher offer from Paramount over an $83 billion agreement it had accepted with Netflix to buy its streaming services, studios and intellectual property.
Netflix announced it would withdraw rather than try to top Paramount’s bid. “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,” the streaming company said.
The move follows weeks of public back-and-forth. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos had challenged Paramount on the red carpet at the BAFTAs, urging the rival to stop talking and “just put a better deal on the table.” Netflix’s proposal had included assurances that Warner would continue to operate as an independent studio and keep releasing movies in theaters.
Paramount’s renewed push, however, appears to have prevailed. The company had previously proposed buying all of Warner — including cable channels such as CNN, TBS and Discovery — in a deal valued at about $108 billion. Earlier this week, Paramount raised its bid by $1 a share; Warner’s board concluded that the latest Paramount offer was “superior.”
Sarandos also took his case to Washington hours before Warner’s announcement, meeting with White House officials to argue for the Netflix transaction. Those meetings were confirmed by a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said President Trump did not meet with Sarandos.
Both deals are likely to face intense antitrust scrutiny. The Paramount proposal would combine major entertainment assets — Paramount Global’s CBS, the Paramount+ streamer, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other cable networks — with Warner’s wide-ranging properties, making the Justice Department review a significant hurdle.
Paramount CEO David Ellison’s bid is backed by the wealth of his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. David Ellison has told shareholders his group could have an easier path through regulatory review. The Ellisons’ political connections have drawn attention: Larry Ellison is a financial backer of President Trump, and David Ellison was photographed giving a MAGA-friendly thumbs-up beside Republican Senator Lindsey Graham before the State of the Union.
Those ties have been highlighted amid changes at CBS News after David Ellison’s selection of Bari Weiss as editor in chief. President Trump has praised the news division’s direction under Weiss. Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr told a Semafor conference Wednesday that he was pleased with the newsroom’s shift under Weiss, saying CBS had moved toward “more fact-based, unbiased reporting.”
As the companies and regulators weigh next steps, the media landscape looks set for a contentious review process as rivals jockey for control of some of Hollywood’s biggest assets.