Netflix walks away from Warner Bros deal, clearing the path for Paramount

“We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands,” Netflix’s co-CEOs, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, said in a joint statement. “But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.” A Paramount buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery would reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape. Unlike Netflix, which was only eyeing Warner’s studio and streaming business, Paramount wants the entire company. That means HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter,” and even CNN could soon find themselves under the same roof as Paramount’s CBS, “Top Gun,” and the Paramount+ streaming service. The prospect of such a combination, which will still need the green light from both Warner shareholders and regulators, poses both antitrust concerns and questions of political influence.

Netflix’s decision to walk away on Thursday marks the latest development in a months-long, messy corporate battle over Warner’s future. Sarandos and Peters thanked Warner’s leadership despite the final outcome. Warner had repeatedly backed the deal it struck with Netflix since December right up until Thursday evening, when its board continued to recommend Netflix even while calling Paramount’s bid, valued at about $111 billion including debt, “superior.” Netflix had previously put a $27.75 per share offer on the table for Warner’s studio and streaming business, totalling nearly $83 billion including debt. In a statement Thursday night, CEO David Zaslav said Netflix executives had been “extraordinary partners” and that he wished them “well in the future.”

After months of a heated back-and-forth amid Paramount’s hostile campaign to take over Warner without the board’s blessing, Warner also changed its tune about the remaining prospective buyer. Warner’s board hasn’t officially adopted Paramount’s merger agreement yet, but once it does, Zaslav said it “will create tremendous value.” He added that the company was “excited about the potential of a combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.” Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for further comment. But CEO David Ellison earlier applauded Warner’s board for affirming “the superior value of our offer.”

Also Read | Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to tie the knot on June 13 in Rhode Island: Report

A Paramount-Warner combination would unite two of Hollywood’s five remaining legacy studios, along with their theatrical channels. Beyond “Harry Potter,” Warner movies like “Superman,” “Barbie,” and “One Battle After Another,” as well as hit TV series like “The White Lotus” and “Succession,” would join Paramount’s content library. Paramount’s lineup includes titles such as “Top Gun,” “Titanic,” and “The Godfather.” Beyond CBS, it owns networks like MTV and Nickelodeon, as well as the Paramount+ streaming service.

A merger between the two companies would put CNN under the same roof as CBS, which has already seen significant editorial shifts under new Skydance ownership. Paramount has taken steps to appeal to more conservative viewers in its news operations, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. If the company’s takeover bid of Warner is successful, critics warn similar shifts could happen at CNN, a network that has long attracted ire from Trump.

“Any concerns about Netflix owning Warner Bros. are only heightened by the prospect of Paramount owning all of WBD. But it might not even matter,” Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester, a market research company, said in an email. “Politics are playing an outsized role in this deal, and they’ve been on Paramount’s side from the get-go.” President Donald Trump has a close relationship with billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, who is heavily backing Paramount’s bid to buy Warner. Paramount’s aggressive push to acquire Warner arrived just months after Skydance closed its own buyout of Paramount in a contentious merger approved only weeks after the company agreed to pay the president $16 million to settle a lawsuit over editing at Paramount’s “60 Minutes” program on CBS.

Still, Trump has continued to publicly lash out at Paramount over editorial decisions at CBS’ “60 Minutes.” While the president previously made unprecedented suggestions about his involvement in seeing a Warner deal through, he has since walked back those statements and maintained that regulatory approval will be up to the Justice Department. Nevertheless, top Democratic lawmakers have sounded the alarm about the Republican president’s ties to companies like Paramount and the potential consequences of growing corporate power.

“A handful of Trump-aligned billionaires are trying to seize control of what you watch and charge you whatever price they want,” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a long-time antitrust advocate, said in a statement Thursday night. She also called a potential Paramount-Warner combination an “antitrust disaster.” Executives at Paramount have argued that merging with Warner will allow it to compete with bigger rivals, particularly in the streaming space, and provide larger content libraries for customers. However, Warren and other critics say such a merger threatens higher prices and would further consolidate power in an industry already dominated by just a few major players. Some trade groups also warn that it could lead to job losses and less diversity in filmmaking.

Also Read | Christian Bale confirms Heat 2, set to star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Michael Mann sequel

When Netflix was still in the running, one of its key arguments against a Warner-Paramount tie-up was that it would combine two very similar companies: two legacy studios, two theatrical channels, and two major news networks. The streaming giant argued that this posed a higher risk for job losses and other competition concerns. In contrast, executives from both Netflix and Warner argued at a Senate antitrust hearing earlier this month that Netflix does not have the same studios and film distribution operations that Warner does. That was “one of the reasons that the Netflix offer appeals to us so much,” Bruce Campbell, Warner’s chief revenue and strategy officer, told senators on Feb. 3, noting that the company believed Netflix would not only keep Warner’s operations intact but also “invest in continued production.”

How regulators will respond to a Warner-Paramount deal remains to be seen. The U.S. Department of Justice has already initiated reviews, and other countries are expected to do so as well. Warner shareholders will also need to be convinced. Beyond offering a higher price, Paramount has tried to entice them by pledging to move up a previously promised “ticking fee.” The company initially said it would pay 25 cents per share for every quarter the deal drags on past the end of the year. It has now agreed to pay that amount if the deal does not go through by the end of September. It also agreed to a regulatory termination fee of $7 billion.

However, Paramount is taking on billions of dollars in debt to finance its offer, something critics warn could increase the likelihood of potential job losses and restructuring down the road. Foreign sovereign wealth funds have also provided equity for the offer, drawing additional scrutiny.