Ted Sarandos on Losing Warner Bros.: Paramount Moves Were 'Irrational'

Mar 1, 2026 11:53am PT Netflix Boss Ted Sarandos Speaks Out After Losing Warner Bros. Bid: Paramount Offers Were ‘Irrational,’ Relied on Political Pressure Because it’s ‘Cheaper to Make Noise’ By William Earl Plus Icon William Earl @beautifulbill Latest WGA Cancels L.A. Award Show Due to Staff Strike 1 hour ago After BAFTAs, Mel Gibson, J.K. Rowling and More Celebs Blame Hateful Speech on Tourette’s in ‘SNL’ Sketch 4 hours ago Trump and Pete Hegseth Try to Justify Iran War on ‘SNL’: ‘I Don’t Know What I’m Doing’ 15 hours ago See All Getty Images Netflix co-chief CEO Ted Sarandos has spoken out for the first time since losing the bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Sarandos gave the interview to Lucas Shaw at Bloomberg, where he didn’t mince words about losing out to Paramount. In the Q&A, Shaw mentioned that Sarandos was “dealing with an unusual other buyer.” Popular on Variety Related Stories 'Joe's College Road Trip' Review: Tyler Perry Lets Out His Inner Bad Grandpa in a Hilariously Profane Buddy Comedy CBS’ ‘CIA’ Works Fine as an Average Law Enforcement Procedural: TV Review “Unusual, yeah, unusual, irrational, whatever words you want to use in that,” Sarandos said. “It’ll be fascinating to see the next steps. I have been on the record a lot in the last two weeks talking about what I think the future looks like. I’m confident in our future that we’re not impacted by all that. In fact, maybe it’s to our advantage. But I hope I’m wrong for the sake of the industry.” He also spoke about President Trump’s political pressure and if he thought it “spooked” Warner Bros. shareholders. “It’s a lot cheaper to make noise than it is to actually raise your bid,” Sarandos said. “So they tried that path first. Once it was clear that we weren’t in the CNN business, it was a lot less interesting. He didn’t care that much more about our deal.” Sarandos also discussed why Netflix ultimately decided to throw in the towel on the deal. “We had a very tight range that we’d be willing to pay and made that offer back when we closed this deal,” he said. “We hadn’t moved much from that, except for moving to cash, which served to move the deal faster. I’m happy where we got in and happy where we got out. We knew right away, when we got the notice on Thursday that they had a superior offer and the details of that deal. We knew exactly what we were going to do.” Read the full interview here. Jump to Comments When We Were Young Festival on Hiatus for 2026, Will Return Next Year in Las Vegas WGA Cancels L.A. Award Show Due to Staff Strike Original ‘Scream 7’ Directors Say Their Version Was Going to ‘F— You Up’: ‘How Hard Can We Go With This?’ Bong Joon Ho, David Fincher and More Join Academy Museum’s Spring Programming Slate – Film News in Brief ‘Resident Evil Requiem’ Launches (Gaming News Roundup) ‘Bridgerton’ Star Katie Leung on Embracing Her Role as Season 4 Villain Lady Araminta: ‘I Love That People Love to Hate Her’ JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...