By: Serena Edwards
After winning a bidding war for the newly split Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in December, Netflix has decided to withdraw its bid, placing Paramount as the top bidder. But what happens now?
As previously reported by The Vanguard, Warner Bros (WB) and WBD parted ways, splitting into two entities.
By the end of 2025, Netflix won the bidding war with an $83 billion deal, claiming ownership of WBD, though these changes wouldn’t go into effect until the third quarter of 2026.
After Netflix’s $83 million bid was placed, Paramount, owned by Skydance, raised its bid in response.
“Paramount upped its bid for WBD to $111 billion, about 34% higher than Netflix’s initial nearly $83 billion deal,” according to Essence.
Netflix released an official statement withdrawing from the bidding war in response to the Paramount 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,” according to a press release from Netflix.
Netflix’s decision to withdraw was intentional, with an imminent deadline to counterbid Paramount.
“The swift decision by Netflix to walk away will certainly come as a shock to the industry because the streamer had four business days, or until Wednesday, March 4 at 11:59 p.m. ET, to come up with a new proposal to salvage its WBD deal,” according to Variety.
“Netflix had the legal right to match the PSKY offer. As you all know, they ultimately decided not to do that. That then resulted in a signed agreement with PSKY as of this morning,” stated Bruce Campbell, chief revenue officer of WB, in a statement.
Due to the termination of the Netflix and WBD deal, Paramount had to pay the termination fee in addition to the bidding offer.
“Paramount paid the $2.8 billion termination fee that Warner Bros owed Netflix, the streaming giant said in a regulatory filing on Friday,” according to Reuters.
As the third quarter of 2026 approaches, Paramount’s position as the top bidder will be key to any ownership changes to come.