U.S. streaming platform Netflix has withdrawn from its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing the path for a takeover by Paramount and Skydance.

In a statement posted on its website on Thursday, Netflix announced that it had declined to raise its offer for Warner Bros after WBD’s board determined that Paramount Skydance’s latest bid constituted a “superior proposal” under the terms of its existing merger agreement with Netflix.

The decision followed Netflix’s December 2025 announcement of a cash-and-stock agreement valued at about $82.7 billion to acquire WBD, described as a historic merger of “innovation and legacy”.

Responding to the latest development, Netflix co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said the company would not match the rival offer.

“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” the executives said. “However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”