Yes, Netflix lost Warner, but perhaps that's a good thing

Netflix’s stock jumped nearly 14% Friday, a day after it stunned Hollywood by backing out of its $83 billion deal for Warner Bros Discovery.

- NICOLE SPERLING

Netflix’s bank account grew by $2.8 billion Friday, too, when Paramount paid a breakup fee for hijacking the Warner deal.

And two of Netflix’s top competitors, Paramount and Warner Bros, now have the daunting task of forming one successful company out of their two struggling businesses, all while managing a huge pile of debt. Sounds like a huge distraction.

Did Netflix just win by losing?

Netflix certainly lost Warner Bros Discovery to Paramount. Its top executives made clear that they would have loved to own the Warner Bros studio and HBO. But in the end, the company said, it wasn’t willing to pay the price necessary to outdo Paramount.

And it is entirely possible, analysts say, that Netflix will be better for it.

“There are certainly investors that believe that Netflix’s content engagement flywheel is broken” and that it needed the deal, said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst. “But the truth is, Netflix is still producing more hits than everyone else combined.”