Netflix's Ted Sarandos: No regrets over lost Warner Bros bid
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says he does not regret going after Warner Bros., even though Paramount ended up with the company.
Sarandos spoke at Bloomberg Screentime in Los Angeles, days after Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery cleared its final hurdle when a federal judge approved a settlement with state attorneys general, according to live coverage from the event. Bloomberg
Netflix had won the first round of bidding for Warner Bros. before Warner Bros. Discovery accepted a higher offer from Paramount for the whole company. Netflix dropped out of the fight on 26 Feb 2026. Its earlier proposal was valued at $82.7 billion, Reuters reported in January.
“The plan was solid,” Sarandos said. He added that Netflix priced its bid at the top level where it could still return value to shareholders. Any higher, he said, would have pushed the deal into negative territory, even with Netflix’s scale. Deadline
That is a shift for a company that had called itself “a builder, not a buyer” before it entered the auction. Sarandos said the bid threw the business narrative off for investors and press. You have to be willing to put that narrative at risk for long-term return, he said.
He also shut down talk of a consolation prize. Netflix is not looking for another large deal to replace Warner Bros. Growth is the priority, but Sarandos admitted Netflix “isn’t growing as fast as I want.” He also addressed whether the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. will be direct competition for Netflix, Variety reported.
For viewers, this means Netflix is betting on what people watch rather than what it owns. The company stopped reporting subscriber growth almost two years ago to focus on engagement, meaning total time spent watching.
Netflix now reports about 200 billion hours of watching. Engagement grew 2% in its last announcement. Sarandos named the football World Cup as a headwind during that reporting period, when live sport pulls attention away from scripted and unscripted programmes.
Live events remain a small part of the mix. Netflix spends about 5% of its content budget on live programming, which accounts for about 1% of viewing. On money, Sarandos said Netflix posted double-digit revenue growth in every region of the world in the past quarter.
He was also asked about HBO chief Casey Bloys. Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max content, is set to run the merged HBO Max and Paramount+ platform. Sarandos confirmed he had a well-publicised lunch with Bloys in March, days after Netflix lost Warner Bros. The meeting sparked speculation that Bloys could join Netflix. Sarandos addressed that speculation on stage.
What makes this stand out is the discipline behind the walkaway. Netflix chased one of Hollywood’s biggest catalogues, named its ceiling, and left when Paramount went higher. The next test is whether hours watched and regional revenue can carry the story without it.
