WBD To Reopen Deal Talks With Paramount Skydance

Warner Bros. Discovery announced Tuesday it will reopen limited deal talks with Paramount Skydance, creating the potential for a renewed bidding contest with its preferred partner, Netflix.

Netflix has granted Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) a seven-day waiver, ending February 23, 2026, to engage with Paramount and seek its "best and final" offer, addressing remaining deficiencies in Paramount's proposal. WBD's board continues to unanimously recommend the Netflix merger and has scheduled a special shareholder vote on that deal for March 20.

Paramount, pursuing a hostile all-cash acquisition of the entire WBD company (including cable networks like CNN and TNT), recently sweetened its tender offer. A senior Paramount representative orally indicated willingness to raise the bid to $31 per WBD share from the current $30 if talks resume. 

Paramount has also committed to covering the $2.8 billion termination fee WBD would owe Netflix if the Netflix deal collapses, plus a "ticking fee" of 25 cents per share per quarter starting in January 2027 if its transaction delays.

Netflix's agreement, reached in December and later amended to all-cash, targets WBD's movie and TV studios plus the HBO Max streaming service at $27.75 per share (valuing those assets at around $72 billion enterprise value, with stockholders also receiving shares in the spun-off Discovery Global cable business). Netflix retains matching rights on any superior proposal and stated its offer remains superior while welcoming the brief talks "to fully and finally resolve this matter."

WBD emphasized it has not deemed Paramount's proposal superior and is engaging solely to determine if Paramount can deliver a binding, higher-value offer with greater certainty for shareholders. CEO David Zaslav said the company is testing whether Paramount can provide an actionable proposal that outperforms Netflix's.

The developments follow months of back-and-forth, with Paramount's full-company bid previously rejected in favor of Netflix's targeted acquisition. WBD and Paramount shares rose over 3% in premarket trading Tuesday, while Netflix shares remained roughly flat.This latest twist adds another layer to the high-stakes battle over major entertainment assets including HBO, DC Comics properties like Superman, and the Harry Potter franchise.