Chris Hughes, Columnist

Oh No, Rationality Prevailed in the Warner Bros. Auction

February 27, 2026 at 1:59 PM UTC

Chris Hughes is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals. Previously, he worked for Reuters Breakingviews, the Financial Times and the Independent newspaper.

A winning smile.
Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg

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It took a price of $111 billion, backed by $46 billion from tech billionaire Larry Ellison, plus the promise to pay $7 billion in compensation if the deal failed.

The final numbers that saw Paramount Skydance Corp. push rival Netflix Inc. out of the battle for Hollywood studio peer Warner Bros Discovery Inc. are epic. But in the final analysis, this auction stopped short of total irrationality.