The battle for control of Warner Bros. Discovery has ended with a dramatic twist: Netflix is out, and David Ellison’s Paramount is in.

After weeks of escalating offers, Warner Bros. Discovery’s board declared Paramount Skydance’s latest bid of 31 dollars a share a “superior proposal,” triggering a brief window for Netflix to respond. Netflix, which had tabled an 82.7 billion dollar all-cash offer focused on the studio and streaming assets, refused to raise its bid and formally walked away.

Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said the company would not chase a deal that no longer met its financial discipline, arguing their proposal would have created shareholder value and faced a clear path through regulators, but was now overpriced relative to the risks.

Under the original agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery must pay Netflix a 2.8 billion dollar termination fee. Paramount’s Ellison-backed offer absorbs that cost, a sign of how aggressively the tech billionaire family is moving to reshape the media landscape. Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder and one of the world’s richest people, is supplying substantial equity to support the transaction, alongside a 57.5 billion dollar debt package from major banks and private equity.

The deal hands Paramount control of one of Hollywood’s most storied portfolios: Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO, the Max streaming service, a slate of gaming and entertainment units, and a powerful suite of cable networks including CNN, TBS, TNT, Discovery, and HGTV. Paramount will also assume roughly 33 billion dollars of Warner Bros. Discovery’s debt, a heavy load that will likely drive aggressive cost-cutting.

David Ellison’s growing media empire already includes Paramount’s film and television operations and the CBS broadcast network. His stewardship has drawn scrutiny, particularly over concerns about political influence in news coverage. Larry Ellison is a prominent supporter of Donald Trump, and critics have accused Ellison-aligned outlets of soft-pedaling coverage of the former president.

Investors appeared to welcome the clarity. Netflix shares rose sharply in after-hours trading as markets digested the company’s decision to preserve its balance sheet. Paramount stock also climbed, reflecting optimism that the Ellison-backed group can extract value from a vastly expanded content library, even as it confronts the daunting economics of streaming, linear television decline, and regulatory review of a blockbuster media merger.