Netflix bows out from Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war

In the latest plot twist of the high-stakes bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix said Thursday it would not increase a counteroffer for the company’s studio and streaming assets, effectively clearing the way for Paramount Skydance’s revised bid to take center stage. 

That comes after the WBD board deemed Paramount’s revised all-cash bid earlier this week of $31 per share, up from $30 per share, to be a superior offer to acquire the entire company.

Netflix had four business days to revise its bid in light of Paramount’s superior offer, the WBD board said in a statement Thursday.

Investors appeared to prefer clarity over courtship. Netflix shares jumped more than 10% in extended trading, while Paramount’s rose as much as 5%. However, WBD’s stock fell 1.39%.

WBD CEO David Zaslav said Thursday the Paramount merger agreement would create “tremendous value” for shareholders once the board formally adopts the deal and expressed enthusiasm about the potential of the combined company. Translation: the deal train is boarding.

On the artificial intelligence front, markets proved harder to charm.

Nvidia shares sank over 5%, dragging the Nasdaq Composite down more than 1%. The S&P 500 also closed lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered just above the flatline.

The retreat came despite reassurances from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Thursday that the markets “got it wrong” on fears that AI agents will cannibalize the enterprise software industry. He made the comments after the chip designer’s blowout earnings report.

For now, clarity is powering media shares higher, but conviction in AI is proving harder to sustain.

— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo, Alex Sherman, Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this story.

Democrats plan to force Iran war powers vote next week, their leadership announced Thursday, as President Donald Trump engages in a massive military buildup in the region. The resolution would compel the administration to seek congressional approval before engaging in any further activity in Iran.

Anthropic CEO Amodei pushes back, saying the company “cannot in good conscience” allow the U.S. Department of Defense to use its models in all lawful use cases without limitation, following tense negotiations with the Pentagon in recent weeks. 

U.S. markets pull back Thursday, after the latest results from Nvidia and Salesforce failed to abate investor skepticism surrounding AI. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite settled lower, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added just slightly above the flatline. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed flat, with most major bourses ending the day in the green. 

The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund uses Anthropic’s Claude AI to screen investments for potential reputational and ethical risks. Norway’s $2 trillion oil fund first began using the AI model in day-to-day work in Nov. 2024. It has since become “an important tool in our monitoring of ESG risk across the portfolio,” a…