Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos failed Thursday to convince a skeptical Trump administration to approve his proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery – and with that, his nearly done deal to buy WBD’s streaming service and studio went into a death spiral.
Late Thursday, WBD deemed a revised bid of $31 a share from rival Paramount Skydance a “reasonably superior offer,” forcing Netflix to pull its bid thus ending a six-month takeover battle that has captivated Wall Street and the media business.
The backdrop of the announcement was the increasingly insurmountable regulatory hurdles Netflix faced in dealing with the Trump administration. As first reported by The Post, earlier Thursday, Sarandos sat with a skeptical Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Justice Department antitrust officials to try to convince the administration not to oppose the deal on antitrust grounds.
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The head of its news division, former opinion journalist Bari Weiss, will now likely control a combined news division that includes WBD’s cable news network CNN.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Weiss meets with Christiane Amanpour.
In the meantime, some on the left aren’t taking the news very well:
Wow. Can you imagine a world where one political ideology dominates the arts and media?
I wonder what that would look like. Sounds horrifying. https://t.co/4VA4Dp7X3G
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) February 27, 2026
https://t.co/4GFonCIkfZ pic.twitter.com/XMchI2h9Nh
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 27, 2026