NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 10:33 ET — Regular session
- Netflix shares fell about 0.5% in morning trade, tracking deal headlines around Warner Bros Discovery.
- Warner Bros is expected to reject Paramount Skydance’s amended $108.4 billion hostile offer, a move that would keep Netflix’s $82.7 billion cash-and-stock deal in pole position, Reuters reported.
- Netflix rolled out a “Stranger Things” finale trailer ahead of the New Year’s Eve episode. Netflix+1
Netflix (NFLX.O) shares were down about 0.5% at $93.70 in morning trading on Tuesday, as investors weighed fresh twists in the takeover battle around Warner Bros Discovery.
A report saying Warner is expected to reject Paramount Skydance’s revised hostile bid put the focus back on Netflix’s proposed deal for the media company’s assets. The decision matters because the outcome could reshape the streaming landscape and set the terms for a new round of consolidation.
The timing adds urgency. With year-end positioning and thin holiday liquidity, deal headlines can move stocks more sharply than usual, even when the broader market is quiet.
Wall Street’s main indexes opened muted after Monday’s tech-led slide, Reuters said. “In light volume trading, we’re seeing a reversal of what we saw over the last couple of days,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Reuters+1
CNBC reported that Warner Bros Discovery is expected to reject Paramount Skydance’s amended $108.4 billion offer, Reuters said, despite billionaire Larry Ellison backing the bid with a personal guarantee. Warner Bros and Paramount Skydance declined to comment on the report.
The rejection would keep Warner on track to pursue a rival cash-and-stock deal with Netflix valued at $82.7 billion, Reuters reported. Warner would owe a $2.8 billion breakup fee if it walked away from the Netflix agreement, a penalty designed to discourage last-minute exits.
In early trading, Warner Bros Discovery shares were up about 0.4% and Walt Disney gained about 0.6%. Netflix traded between $93.47 and $94.28 on the session.
Netflix also nudged attention back to its content pipeline. The company released a trailer for the “Stranger Things” finale, a marquee series for the streamer. Netflix+1
Netflix’s Tudum site said the finale arrives on New Year’s Eve at 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern), following two earlier batches of episodes released on Nov. 26 and on Christmas Day. For investors, big franchise drops are watched as a test of engagement and churn, especially heading into a new year of pricing and advertising competition.
What comes next is largely deal-driven. Traders are watching for any formal response from Warner’s board, whether Paramount escalates again, and how regulators and lawmakers frame the consolidation risk.
The next scheduled catalyst for Netflix is earnings. Netflix said it will post fourth-quarter 2025 financial results and a business outlook on Jan. 20, 2026, and follow with a live video interview featuring co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters and CFO Spence Neumann.
Until then, NFLX is likely to trade on two tracks: headlines on the Warner process and the broader tone for large-cap growth stocks. With only a handful of sessions left in the year, positioning can matter as much as fundamentals day to day.
