Netflix has seen its shares fall sharply despite upbeat financial results revealed hours after it simplified an offer for Warner Bros in a bid to get the deal over the line.
The world’s largest streaming service by subscriber numbers said paid households had swelled to a record 325 million over the final three months of 2025. They had stood at 300 million a year earlier.
Its fourth quarter results also showed revenues of $12.1bn during the crucial period, which includes Christmas, beating analysts’ estimates.
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But shares were down 5% in after-hours trading following a flat performance during the day.
This was explained, analysts said, by its forward-looking guidance on revenue and profits missing expectations at a time of nerves over its move for Warner Bros.
Netflix said earlier on Tuesday it had changed the terms of its $72bn (£53.5bn) offer for Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD’s) studios, back catalogue and HBO Max streaming division.
The bid – already backed by WBD – now comprised only cash, removing an element of the deal that included Netflix shares, it said.
The total value of the deal, $82.7bn (£61.4bn), is unchanged.
The earlier cash-and-shares offer had been seen as adding complication, especially as shares offer no guarantee of future value in the face of a rival, hostile, all-cash bid from Paramount Skydance.
WBD and Netflix said in a joint statement that the revised Netflix offer “simplifies” the purchase, “provides greater certainty of value” for WBD stockholders and an “expedited timeline” for WBD stockholders to vote on Netflix’s proposal.
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