David Ellison Used Political Ties, Deep Pockets to Buy Warner Bros.

After the board of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. concluded a meeting Thursday afternoon, Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav called David Ellison and Ted Sarandos to let them know the results. The board had deemed Ellison and Paramount Skydance Corp.’s latest bid superior to that of Netflix Inc. and Sarandos.

Ellison’s advisers were steeling for at least four more days of hard work. Netflix had the right to match the offer under the terms of its deal with Warner Bros., and Paramount was ready to go several rounds against the streamer. But a couple hours later, Sarandos called Zaslav back to inform him that Netflix was out. Warner Bros. and Paramount were stunned. Netflix had outbid Paramount in the first round of negotiations, and Sarandos, the company’s co-CEO, had spent the past week defending the deal in public.