New York, January 13, 2026, 11:08 (ET) — Regular session
Netflix, Inc. shares were little changed on Tuesday after Paramount Skydance sued Warner Bros Discovery and said it would nominate directors in a bid to block Warner’s planned deal with Netflix, Reuters reported. Paramount is pitching a $30-per-share all-cash tender offer — an offer to buy stock directly from shareholders — that expires on Jan. 21, versus Netflix’s $82.7 billion cash-and-stock agreement valued at $27.75 per share for Warner’s studios and streaming assets. Netflix was up 0.03% at $89.44 in late-morning trade, while Warner fell 0.3% and Paramount Skydance slipped 0.5%. (Reuters)
The clash matters for Netflix because it keeps a cloud over what would be its biggest strategic swing yet, with the price tag and timetable now tied to a legal fight and shareholder politics. Even if Netflix holds its offer line, the noise can still delay filings, stretch negotiations and widen the range of outcomes investors have to handicap.
It also lands at a moment when markets have punished deals that look open-ended. Traders have been quick to ask whether Netflix ends up paying more, or whether it walks and focuses on its core growth levers instead.
Paramount framed the move as a disclosure fight. In a letter released on Monday, Paramount said it filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court to push Warner to provide basic financial details for shareholders, and it laid out plans for a proxy fight — a campaign to win shareholder votes and replace directors — if Warner calls a vote on the Netflix transaction. “What it has never said, because it cannot, is that the Netflix transaction is financially superior to our actual offer,” Paramount wrote. (PR Newswire)
Warner’s board has been telling investors to ignore Paramount. Warner said earlier this month it unanimously viewed the Paramount offer as inferior and urged shareholders not to tender, with board chair Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr. citing “an extraordinary amount of debt financing” and closing risk. Warner also flagged that abandoning the Netflix agreement would trigger a $2.8 billion termination fee and other costs it put at about $4.7 billion in total. (Warner Bros. Discovery)
Analyst views are split, but some are trying to draw a line under the worst-case fears. HSBC analyst Mohammed Khallouf initiated coverage of Netflix with a Buy rating and a $107 price target, arguing the stock trades below prior peaks despite what he described as improving monetization and profitability, plus international runway. He called Netflix the “undisputed global streaming leader,” while noting that the turn to acquisitions reflects a maturing streaming market. (TipRanks)
For Netflix shareholders, the promise is obvious enough: more owned content, bigger franchises, and another lever in negotiations with rivals and distributors. The market, though, tends to price in the messy part first — integration, debt and the risk that someone forces a higher bid.
But the downside case is not subtle. A drawn-out court fight or proxy contest can push decisions out by months, while a higher offer price or tighter financing terms would test Netflix’s pledge to stay disciplined, and regulators still sit over the process.
Investors are also watching the cadence of filings and the tone from both camps. Any shift toward a negotiated outcome, or a hardening toward litigation, changes the odds quickly and tends to show up first in the spread between the deal price and the competing offer.
The next hard catalyst for Netflix stock is its quarterly update: Netflix said it will post fourth-quarter 2025 results and its business outlook on Tuesday, January 20, and host a live video interview with co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters and CFO Spence Neumann shortly after. Traders will listen for any read on spending, cash generation and whether the Warner contest is starting to pull management attention off the day job. (Netflix)
