New York, Jan 22, 2026, 08:30 ET — Premarket
- Netflix shares dropped roughly 2% in premarket trading after Paramount pushed back its hostile Warner offer deadline to Feb. 20
- Investors remain fixated on Netflix’s $82.7 billion all-cash offer for Warner assets, weighing the financing, regulatory hurdles, and integration challenges ahead
- Traders are eyeing potential sweetened bids, antitrust developments in the U.S. and Europe, and a Warner stockholder vote slated for April
Netflix shares fell 2.2% to $85.36 in premarket trading Thursday after Paramount Skydance pushed back the deadline for its hostile tender offer for Warner Bros Discovery to Feb. 20, prolonging the expensive takeover battle.
The extension buys Paramount extra time to approach shareholders directly — a tender offer means buying shares right from investors — and maintains pressure on Netflix as it pursues an all-cash $82.7 billion bid for Warner’s studio and streaming units. “This new agreement only ramps up the pressure,” said Alex Fitch, portfolio manager at Harris Oakmark. Reuters
Netflix topped Wall Street’s revenue and earnings forecasts for the holiday quarter, with paid subscribers hitting 325 million. The boost came on the back of popular shows and NFL streaming. Looking ahead, the company projects 2026 revenue between $50.7 billion and $51.7 billion. CFO Spencer Neumann also said advertising revenue is expected to nearly double, reaching around $3 billion.
Traders have zeroed in on the Warner bid as the key story, after Netflix announced a pause on its share buybacks to conserve cash for the acquisition. The company secured a $59 billion bridge loan as a backup funding source, then boosted that commitment by $8.2 billion to back its $27.75-per-share cash offer.
Regulators might weigh in as well. Bloomberg News reported that EU antitrust officials plan to examine Netflix’s and Paramount’s competing bids simultaneously. This rare parallel review could affect both the timing and the final decision.
On a post-results call, Netflix’s co-CEOs stood by their big acquisition move, saying Warner brings a well-established theatrical business and the HBO brand, plus its streaming library. “When we got into the hood, there were several things we saw that were just really exciting,” co-CEO Greg Peters said. Reuters
A regulatory filing revealed that Netflix included its shareholder letter with non-GAAP reconciliations when releasing the quarterly results.
The downside is clear: higher deal costs, stricter antitrust hurdles, and a drawn-out bidding war that could push Netflix to pay more or hold off longer as competitors vie for the same content. Bill Baer, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and former senior U.S. antitrust official, cautioned that the winning bidder might gain so much leverage it “likely would diminish both the number and the quality of programming.” Reuters
Traders are focused on whether Paramount will raise its $30-per-share bid and if Warner decides to respond, following Paramount’s extension of its tender deadline to Feb. 20. Beyond that, eyes are on the Warner stockholder vote slated for April and any initial hints from U.S. and European antitrust reviews.
