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…

Warner Bros. Discovery‘s board is considering reopening sales talks with Paramount Skydance after recently receiving an amended offer with sweetened deal terms, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

Warner Bros. in December agreed to sell both its film studio and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Paramount, which owns CBS and MTV, in December launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros., promising its shareholders $30 per share in an all-cash deal.

Last week, Paramount upped the ante, saying it would add a ticking fee of 25 cents a share to its offer for any delay in regulatory approval of the deal.

The ticking fee would be approximately $650 million in cash value per quarter for every quarter the deal has not closed by Dec. 31, 2026, CNBC.com previously reported.

Paramount also said it will cover a $2.8 billion termination fee paid to Netflix if the Warner Bros. deal is terminated. Paramount also said it will eliminate $1.5 billion in possible debt refinancing costs.

Both Paramount and Netflix have said they would be willing to raise their bids to secure the Warner Bros. deal, Bloomberg reported. However, this is the first time Warner Bros. has considered whether Paramount’s offer could either result in a better deal or prompt Netflix to offer better deal terms, according to the report.

Read the complete Bloomberg report here.

WATCH: Chadwick: This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Paramount

Netflix has adjusted its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets to an all-cash bid, according to an SEC filing Tuesday.

Netflix now plans to pay $27.75 per WBD share entirely in cash to acquire WBD’s streaming platform HBO Max and the Warner Bros. film studio. The two companies initially reached a deal in December, composed of a combination of cash and stock at an equity value of $72 billion.

CNBC’s David Faber and other media outlets reported last week that Netflix was likely to make the adjustment as Paramount Skydance continues to build up pressure in its hostile takeover attempt for the entirety of WBD, which also includes cable TV networks such as CNN and TNT.

The change to Netflix’s deal structure could allow WBD shareholders to move up their vote to approve the offer, Faber reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter. Previously, shareholders were expected to vote on the deal in the spring or early summer.

WBD’s board unanimously accepted the amended Netflix offer, according to Tuesday’s filing. The board has twice recommended that shareholders reject Paramount’s hostile bid in favor of the Netflix transaction.

Paramount recently sued for information in its hostile pursuit of WBD and has also launched a proxy fight, informing WBD shareholders that it intends to nominate directors for election to the Warner Bros. Discovery board at the company’s annual 2026 meeting.

On Tuesday WBD also filed a preliminary proxy statement seeking shareholder approval for its deal with Netflix. If the deal were to be approved, WBD’s cable TV networks would be spun off into a new, publicly traded entity known as Discovery Global.

Netflix reports earnings after the bell Tuesday, and investors will be looking for further updates on the sale process.

Paramount Skydance is suing Warner Bros. Discovery and CEO David Zaslav as its latest step in a hostile pursuit to acquire WBD, CEO David Ellison outlined in a letter to WBD shareholders on Monday.

The lawsuit asks a Delaware court to direct Warner Bros. Discovery to provide information about its sale process and pending deal with Netflix.

“WBD has failed to include any disclosure about how it valued the Global Networks stub equity, how it valued the overall Netflix transaction, how the purchase price reduction for debt works in the Netflix transaction, or even what the basis is for its ‘risk adjustment’ of our $30 per share all-cash offer,” Ellison said in the letter on Monday.

“We filed suit this morning in Delaware Chancery Court to ask the court to simply direct WBD to provide this information so that WBD shareholders have what they need to be able to make an informed decision as to whether to tender their shares into our offer,” Ellison said.

Ellison also informed WBD shareholders on Monday that Paramount intends to nominate directors for election to WBD’s board at the company’s 2026 annual meeting, in a move that would add a proxy fight to the equation.

Paramount’s latest escalation comes days after WBD’s board once again recommended that shareholders reject Paramount’s amended offer, which was made in late December. The company has repeatedly said its offer is superior to the company’s deal with Netflix and has previously argued that the sale process was unfairly skewed.

A WBD spokesman didn’t immediately respond to request for comment Monday.

Warner Bros. Discovery last month agreed to sell its streaming and studio business to Netflix for $72 billion. The proposed deal was the result of a sale process in which Paramount was bidding for all of WBD’s assets, including its portfolio of cable TV channels, known as Discovery Global.

As part of the Netflix deal Warner Bros. Discovery plans to separate Discovery Global into its own publicly traded entity.

Soon after WBD reached a deal with Netflix, Paramount went public with its hostile bid. Paramount has offered $30 per share, all cash for all of Warner Bros. Discovery’s assets.

WBD’s board told shareholders in December to reject the initial offer in favor of the Netflix deal, citing concerns about the backing of Ellison’s father, billionaire Larry Ellison. Paramount responded with an amended offer in which the Oracle co-founder agreed not to revoke the family trust or adversely transfer its assets during a pending transaction.

Paramount has stopped short of increasing the size of its bid, however.

The newly merger Paramount Skydance first took interest in Warner Bros. Discovery in the fall, making three unsolicited offers that were each rejected. Warner Bros. Discovery then opened up a sale process seeking offers for some or all of its company….

Jared Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners has dropped out of Paramount Skydance‘s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.

“With ​two ​strong competitors ​vying to secure ​the future ​of this ​unique American ​asset, ​Affinity ​has ​decided no longer to pursue ​the opportunity,” an Affinity spokesperson said in a statement.

“The dynamics ​of the investment have changed significantly ​since we initially became ​involved ​in October,” the spokesperson said. “We ​continue to ​believe ​there is a strong strategic rationale for Paramount’s offer.”

Kushner is the son-in-law of President Donald Trump.

Affinity’s role in Paramount’s hostile bid came to light on Dec. 8, when Paramount announced an all-cash, $30 per share offer for all of WBC.

The offer came days after streaming giant Netflix said it had reached a deal to buy WBD’s film studio and streaming service HBO Max. Warner Bros. plans to spin out Discovery Global, which includes a large portfolio of pay TV networks, including CNN and TNT.

Trump last week said Netflix’s proposed deal, which requires regulatory approval, “could be a problem” because of how much market share Netflix would end up with.

Trump said he will be involved in the process of approving the deal.

The monetary value of Affinity’s role in Paramount’s bid was not disclosed in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Paramount.

However, that SEC filing said that in addition to commitments from Affinity and RedBird Capital Partners, there was a $1 billion commitment from Tencent, and an “aggregate $24 billion commitment from three sovereign wealth funds from” the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

CNBC has asked Affinity about the status of the Gulf states’ commitment in light of Affinity’s withdrawal from the bid.