MOVIE NEWS – On December 5, 2025, Netflix struck a deal to acquire the studio and streaming side of Warner Bros. Discovery – a package that would have included Warner Bros., HBO, Max, and DC Studios – for $82.7 billion. But Paramount Skydance, which had been circling WBD for months with proposals for the entire company, kept raising the stakes, and the price eventually reached a point where Netflix decided it would not chase the deal any further.

The outcome became formal on February 26, 2026: Warner Bros. Discovery notified Netflix that its board had determined Paramount Skydance’s proposal was the superior offer. The difference was not only the number, but also the structure. Netflix had agreed to buy the studio and streaming assets, while Paramount Skydance moved to acquire the entire company, including its TV channels.

Paramount Skydance offered $31 per share in cash for the whole business. Netflix’s agreement was priced at $27.75 per share for the studio and streaming portion, excluding linear networks such as CNN, TBS, and TNT. With debt included, the competing bid effectively valued the company at roughly $111 billion. Under the terms, Netflix had four business days to match, and it declined, saying the price required to do so no longer made the transaction financially attractive.

Markets reacted quickly: Netflix shares jumped in after-hours trading, while WBD shares dipped modestly.

Warner Bros. Discovery Will Not Be Bought by Netflix

This was built over weeks rather than hours. After Netflix signed its agreement with WBD in December 2025, David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance, launched a hostile bid at $30 per share for the full company, explicitly including the TV networks Netflix did not want. WBD rejected that approach in January, calling it inferior on an overall basis and pointing to financing and execution risk.

The standoff continued until February 17, when Netflix gave WBD a week to reopen negotiations with Paramount Skydance, a signal that the situation could pivot. The rival bidder then stacked its proposal with sweeteners: $0.25 per share per quarter if the deal was not closed before September 2026, a willingness to pay a $7 billion penalty if regulators blocked the transaction, and an agreement to cover the $2.8 billion WBD would have owed Netflix for terminating their original deal. With those guarantees on the table, WBD’s board declared the offer superior, and Netflix stepped aside.

The next milestone is WBD’s extraordinary shareholder meeting on March 20, 2026, where the transaction will be put to a formal vote, and the path looks clear now that Netflix is out. The remaining hurdle is regulatory approval in the United States and Europe, which could stretch the process to late 2026 or beyond, although Paramount has reportedly already cleared a U.S. Department of Justice review and secured approval from German authorities.

If the deal closes, a single conglomerate would control Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO, Max, Paramount+, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, CNN, DC Studios, and WB Games at the same time. The videogame division is a sensitive piece of the package: WB Games is tied to franchises such as Batman: Arkham, Mortal Kombat, Hogwarts Legacy, and LEGO Batman, and it has recently gone through cuts and closures, including Monolith Productions shutting down and a Wonder Woman game being canceled, alongside the closure of studios like Player First Games and WB San Diego.

On the development side, Rocksteady is said to be working on a new Batman project, Avalanche is preparing a Hogwarts Legacy sequel, and NetherRealm has been linked to a possible Injustice 3. Division head JB Perrette has described the past year as a reset after the company spread itself too thin chasing too many IPs across an overly broad studio footprint, with a renewed focus on major franchises and meaningful results expected in 2027-2028. One detail that stands out is that Netflix leadership previously said the company assigned effectively no value to WB Games when pricing its bid.

Source: 3DJuegos