Netflix slightly beats revenue estimates in holiday quarter; shares slide amid bidding war for Warner Bros

By Dawn Chmielewski

LOS ANGELES, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Netflix squeaked past Wall Street’s revenue estimates for its holiday quarter on Tuesday, as the streaming giant remains locked in a fierce bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery, sending its shares down 4% in after-hours trading.

Revenue came in at $12.1 billion for October through December, modestly exceeding forecasts of $11.97 billion for the quarter, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG. The company also surpassed 325 million subscribers.

Netflix offered a full-year revenue forecast of $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion for 2026 – a projection that, at the low end, fell below analysts’ estimates of $50.98 billion.

Nielsen reported that Netflix’s monthly viewership rose 10% in December, thanks largely to the final season of hit sci-fi series “Stranger Things,” which generated 15 billion viewing minutes. Netflix also streamed two National Football League games on Christmas Day and released a third film in the “Knives Out” murder-mystery series.

Netflix crossed 300 million subscribers at the end of 2024.

Investors remain focused on Netflix’s $82.7 billion pursuit of Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and other entertainment assets, as it seeks to fend off a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance. 

“Investors seem skeptical that the WBD purchase will pay off for them, which has contributed to the stock being down lately,” said Ross Benes, analyst at eMarketer. “Netflix’s debt position is better than most entertainment companies. For the next few quarters, M&A will generally overshadow quarterly results.”

Netflix amended its merger agreement to an all-cash offer for the film and television studios, its extensive content library and major entertainment franchises, including “Game of Thrones,” “Harry Potter” and DC Comics’ superheroes like Batman and Superman.

“Our revised all-cash agreement will enable an expedited timeline to a stockholder vote and provide greater financial certainty,” Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in a statement accompanying Tuesday’s amended bid.

In its note to investors, Netflix said the Warner Bros acquisition will provide it with an even broader and higher-quality selection of movies and shows for its subscribers, while it will be able to offer more personalized, flexible subscription offers with the addition of HBO Max.

The company said it obtained commitments for a $59 billion bridge loan on December 4 to support the Warner acquisition. On Monday, it increased the bridge loan commitment by $8.2 billion to support its all-cash $27.75 per share offer. 

Netflix also told investors it would pause share buybacks to accumulate cash to help fund the Warner deal. It has already incurred $60 million in costs related to securing financing.

In financial results, Netflix reported adjusted per-share earnings of 56 cents for the fourth quarter ended in December, slightly above estimates of 55 cents per share.

Netflix forecast continued growth in 2026 and said ad revenue is expected to roughly double.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Matthew Lewis)