By Megan Cerullo
Updated on: February 27, 2026 / 3:46 AM EST / MoneyWatch
Netflix announced Thursday it will not match Paramount Skydance’s latest all-cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, effectively clearing the path for a potential Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
In December, Netflix had agreed to buy part of Warner Bros. Discovery for $27.75 a share, a deal valued at about $82.7 billion. Paramount Skydance later made an all-cash proposal to acquire the entire company, first offering $30 a share and then raising the bid to $31 a share. Warner Bros. Discovery’s board informed Netflix on Thursday that Paramount Skydance’s $31-per-share offer constituted a “superior proposal.”
” The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a statement. “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.”
Paramount Skydance did not immediately comment. Paramount Skydance is the parent of CBS News.
Sarandos met Thursday with several Trump administration officials as part of the fallout from the competing bids. He had a White House meeting with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and earlier met at the Justice Department with Attorney General Pam Bondi, the antitrust division’s acting chief Omeed Assefi and other senior Justice Department staff, according to sources familiar with the meetings.
Warner Bros. Discovery owns film and streaming assets as well as cable channels including CNN, Food Network, HBO, HGTV, TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies. Any merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery would require federal antitrust approval.
Justice Department officials told Netflix they planned a very comprehensive antitrust review of the Netflix–Warner Bros. Discovery transaction, sources said. Some industry groups and lawmakers have voiced concerns that tying together major Hollywood studios could reduce competition. Paramount Skydance executives have argued that combining Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns streaming service HBO Max, would have raised significant antitrust hurdles.
In its enhanced offer this week, Paramount Skydance said it would pay a $7 billion termination fee if its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery failed due to regulatory objections. Paramount Skydance has maintained that a combined company would benefit consumers and help the industry recover from pandemic-era disruptions.
Edited by Alain Sherter
Contributors: Jennifer Jacobs and The Associated Press