The acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery by streaming giant Netflix has been the biggest piece of ongoing entertainment news of 2026 so far, and there's an unexpected new twist in the tale, which has brought that deal crashing down.
After controversial talks of limited theatrical runs and a concern that Netflix could be building a streaming monopoly, the DVD-rental-service-turned-streaming-giant has pulled out of the deal altogether after a counteroffer by Paramount Skydance to the tune of $111 billion (approximately £82 billion, or AU$115 billion).
This bid has been officially considered superior to Netflix's offer, which originally sat in the region of roughly $82 billion. Since Paramount upped its offer, Netflix has reportedly walked away from the deal, citing that it is "no longer financially attractive" at this new price.
You can find the full statement from Netflix here, but without getting bogged down in the intricacies of multi-billion dollar deals, it seems as though Paramount's determination to acquire the studio – which owns countless high profile intellectual properties including Harry Potter, Game Of Thrones, the DC Universe, The Lord Of The Rings and Looney Toons – propelled it to make a monetary offer that Netflix has no desire to match or exceed.
The real question is this: what will happen to the streaming services attached to these multimedia conglomerates?
There are no prizes for guessing which service Netflix owns, but Paramount and Warner Bros have their respective fingers in many streaming pies.
Warner Bros has HBO Max (which is soon to launch in the UK) and Discovery+, while Paramount is involved in Paramount+ and the free streaming platform Pluto TV, as well as the UK broadcast channel Channel 5 and its on-demand streaming counterpart, 5.
Mergers aren't totally out of the question here; just look at Hulu's integration into Disney+ here in the UK, so we could see Paramount+ and HBO Max become a single entity in the future, though this hasn't been confirmed yet.
Claims suggest that HBO Max could merge with Paramount+ down the line, with Bloomberg (via streaming-focused news source The Streamable) reporting that Paramount CEO David Ellison plans to shut down HBO Max and incorporate it into Paramount+ should a deal go through. That was reported back in October 2025, and since then, a deal has been clearly established.
This doesn't necessarily mean that HBO Max's days are numbered – we'll have to wait to hear the full conditions of Warner Bros' acquisition before we make a call on HBO Max's future – but it's also not out of the question that the services could be folded into one.
Netflix's initial plans, outlined in an email titled "Welcoming Warner Bros to Netflix" (awkward), seem to have been scuppered.
Interestingly, it did outline in that original email that "both streaming services will continue to operate separately" under a Netflix ownership of Warner Bros. Clearly, we needn't worry about that anymore.
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