Link: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/26/netflix-paramount-warner-bros

Neither outcome was great, but this one is the worse of the two.

Netflix has walked away from its planned takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, declining to raise its offer for the media conglomerate’s storied Hollywood studios and streaming business after it determined a sweetened rival offer from Paramount Skydance to be “superior”.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the Netflix co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said: “At the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive.”

In its revised offer, Paramount offered $31 (£23) a share for the company, up from $30; a $7bn regulatory termination fee if the merger is not approved; and a “ticking fee” amounting to about $650m in cash each quarter beginning after September.

Netflix was given four business days to beat Paramount’s revised offer but quickly decided against doing so.

“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 US,” Sarandos and Peters said.

“But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”