Overview
- Netflix granted a limited waiver letting Warner Bros. Discovery engage with Paramount Skydance through Feb. 23 for a best-and-final bid, while the board continues to recommend the Netflix transaction and keeps a March 20 shareholder vote on calendar.
- Paramount’s hostile tender stands publicly at $30 per share with an informal indication of $31, and Warner Bros. Discovery says Netflix retains contractual matching rights for any superior proposal.
- Bloomberg reported that Justice Department lawyers have privately consulted major theater chains about how a Warner sale could affect moviegoers, including whether fewer films would reach cinemas.
- Three Netflix subscribers filed a federal lawsuit in California seeking to block the Netflix–Warner deal as anticompetitive, alleging it would entrench Netflix’s power and reduce consumer choice.
- The bidding battle escalated in public: Netflix’s Ted Sarandos accused Paramount of sowing confusion, David Ellison told Sen. Cory Booker a Netflix tie-up would extinguish competition, and Senate Democrats pressed Ellison to preserve communications tied to Paramount’s pursuit.