NEW YORK, Feb 26, 2026, 11:07 EST — Regular session
- Netflix stock tacked on roughly 1.3% in late morning action, following a surge of almost 6% the previous day.
- Traders are watching to see if Netflix ups its Warner bid or pulls back, with Paramount pushing for more.
- Warner is facing mounting political and antitrust scrutiny as its March 20 shareholder vote approaches.
Netflix climbed 1.3% to $83.75 as of 11:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, building on gains from the previous session. Investors are parsing a rapidly developing battle over Warner Bros Discovery’s marquee assets.
Most of the action landed on Wednesday, with the stock jumping 5.97% to finish at $82.70. That surge yanked takeover calculations back into focus for traders, who’d been drifting through weeks of deal fatigue.
The stakes are suddenly binary for Netflix. Either it shells out for Warner’s studio and streaming package, or it backs off and protects its balance sheet. That decision could come within days.
Late Wednesday, Politico reported that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is set to head to the White House on Thursday for talks on the Warner bid and President Donald Trump’s call for Netflix to remove board member Susan Rice. Netflix’s offer stands at $27.75 a share—$82.7 billion—for Warner’s studio and streaming business. Rival Paramount Skydance, meanwhile, has put out a higher $31-per-share bid for the full company.
Paramount raised the pressure in its latest bid, adding stricter deal protections and a deadline. The regulatory breakup fee jumped to $7 billion, and Warner shareholders would now get 25 cents per share for every quarter after Sept. 30 that the deal doesn’t close. Warner’s board hasn’t called the Paramount offer superior, but if it does, Netflix has four business days to respond. “Better” is always going to be a judgment call, Morningstar’s Matthew Dolgin pointed out. Ross Benes at eMarketer questioned whether these increasingly generous offers are really about business—or just executives’ egos. Reuters
Regulators present their own set of risks. Eleven Republican attorneys general across the U.S. have called on the Justice Department to scrutinize the Netflix-Warner merger. Their concern: the deal risks “undue market concentration that stifles competition,” potentially hiking prices and curbing innovation for consumers. Reuters
Thursday’s results from Warner showed fresh pressure. Revenue for the quarter fell 6%, landing just under $9.5 billion. On the upside, HBO Max pulled in 3.5 million new subscribers, pushing its global total to 131.6 million—a rare highlight as traditional TV slumped and the film and TV studio business turned in a lackluster performance.
Paramount is pitching its streaming strategy as its traditional TV business keeps slipping. The company’s first-quarter revenue outlook—$7.15 billion to $7.35 billion—lands a shade below what Wall Street was looking for. Its Warner bid? Paramount called it an “accelerant” for its ambitions. PP Foresight’s Paolo Pescatore summed it up: the real question this quarter is whether “streaming momentum can outrun the structural unwind in linear.” Reuters
The rebound in the stock isn’t without risk. Should the DOJ step in to block or delay the deal, or if Warner opts for Paramount’s bid instead, Netflix could be forced to hike its offer price—or pull out altogether. Either scenario could trigger another sharp move in the shares.
Sarandos heads to Washington for meetings later Thursday, with investors eyeing those talks for any hints from antitrust regulators. Warner shareholders are set to vote on the Netflix merger agreement at a special meeting slated for March 20.
