Shares in Netflix surged 9.1% in pre-market trading on Friday after the streaming group walked away from a takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).
The company declined to match an improved offer from rival Paramount Skydance (PSKY), bringing an end to months of negotiations over a potential break up of the US media conglomerate.
Paramount raised its bid for the entirety of Warner Bros Discovery to $31 per share, eclipsing Netflix’s earlier proposal of $27.75 per share for the target’s streaming and studio assets.
Netflix had struck an $83bn (£61.5bn) agreement in December to acquire a substantial portion of Warner Bros Discovery’s business, including HBO and the Warner Bros film studio. Paramount subsequently tabled a revised $111bn proposal, which Warner declared on Thursday to be a “superior deal”, triggering a four business day window for Netflix to decide whether to respond.
In a statement confirming its withdrawal, Netflix said: “We’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”
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Warner chief executive David Zaslav welcomed the rival offer. “Once our board votes to adopt the Paramount merger agreement, it will create tremendous value for our shareholders,” he said.
“We are excited about the potential of a combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery and can’t wait to get started working together telling the stories that move the world.”
Paramount’s latest proposal includes a $7bn break up fee should the transaction fail to secure regulatory approval. The company has also agreed to cover the $2.8bn break up fee Warner Bros Discovery would have owed Netflix if their agreement had collapsed.
The group reported a loss per share of 89 cents, wider than the 49 cent loss forecast by LSEG. Revenue rose to $1.57bn, marginally ahead of expectations of $1.55bn.
CoreWeave said fourth quarter revenue increased 110% year on year.
For the first quarter, the company projected revenue of between $1.9bn and $2bn, below the $2.29bn consensus estimate compiled by LSEG (LSEG.L).
Looking further ahead, CoreWeave said it expected full year 2026 revenue of $12bn to $13bn, compared with analysts’ expectations of $12.09bn, according to LSEG data.
Nvidia (NVDA) graphics chips, which underpin CoreWeave’s offering, remain in short supply, chief executive Mike Intrator told analysts on a conference call. Average prices for Nvidia’s H100 processors in the fourth quarter were within 10% of where they began the year, while prices for older A100 chips increased in 2025, he said.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were $898m, falling short of StreetAccount’s $929m consensus forecast.
The company said it was targeting capital expenditure of $30bn to $35bn in 2026, up from $10.31bn in 2025. It intends to end 2026 with more than 1.7 gigawatts of active power capacity, above the 1.59 gigawatts forecast by Visible Alpha, and plans to add more than five gigawatts beyond its contracted footprint by 2030.
Shares in Block surged over 20% in pre-market trading as the payments company founded by Jack Dorsey that includes Square and Cash App, said that it plans to lay off 40% of its workforce, or more than 4,000 employees.
In a letter to shareholders, Dorsey – who also founded Twitter – said the company, which owns Square and Cash App, would reduce headcount from more than 10,000 employees to just under 6,000.
“Today we shared a difficult decision with our team,” Dorsey wrote. “We’re reducing Block by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000, which means that over 4,000 people are being asked to leave or entering into consultation.”
CFO Amrita Ahuja said the cuts were designed to position the company “for our next phase of long term growth”.
“We are choosing to shift how we operate at a time when our business is accelerating and we see an opportunity to move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work,” Ahuja wrote.
Dorsey said he expected other companies to reshape their workforces as efficiency gains from “intelligence tools” become more apparent.
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“Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes,” Dorsey said. “I’d rather get there honestly and on our own terms than be forced into it reactively.”
The announcement came as Block reported fourth quarter revenue of $6.25bn, slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations, and lifted its gross profit outlook for 2026. Cash App’s monthly active users rose to 59 million, up from 58 million in the previous quarter.
Gross profit increased 24% year on year to $2.87bn.
For the full year, the company forecast adjusted earnings per share of $3.66, compared with analysts’ expectations of $3.22, according to LSEG.
It said it expects charges of $450m to $500m tied to the job cuts.
Shares in Dell surged 12% in pre-market trading after the technology group reported a 39% jump in sales, driven in part by growth in its artificial intelligence server business, and forecast continued expansion in the new fiscal year.
The tech company said it closed $64bn in AI optimised server orders in the fourth quarter.
“The AI opportunity is transforming our company,” chief operating officer Jeff Clarke said.
Overall revenue rose 39% to $33.38bn, ahead of the $31.67bn forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Dell’s infrastructure solutions group, which includes AI servers, recorded a 73% increase in quarterly revenue.
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Clarke said on a call with analysts that Dell booked $34.1bn in AI orders as customers accelerated efforts to scale AI deployments. After fulfilling part of those contracts, the company’s AI backlog stood at $43bn at the end of the quarter.
Demand was broad based, Clarke said, with Dell’s customer base exceeding 4,000.
Net income rose to $2.26bn, or $3.37 a share, compared with $1.53bn, or $2.15 a share, a year earlier.
In London, shares in International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways, were higher after it said operating profit rose 17.3% last year to a record €5bn (£4.3bn), up from €4.3bn in 2024.
The company attributed its “record financial performance” to “long-term demand growth in our core markets and constrained supply in a consolidating industry”.
Available seat kilometres, a measure of capacity, increased 2.4% in 2025.
British Airways delivered a margin of 15.2%. The group said: “Our margins, as in previous years, continue to be significantly better than those of our global competitors.”
Chief executive Luis Gallego said: “We reported another year of exceptional performance in 2025, delivering for our customers with continued improvements in on-time performance and customer satisfaction.
“This sector-leading operational performance is translating into world-class financial results, with outstanding margins and superior return on capital.
“Execution of our strategy and transformation programme is creating value for shareholders.”
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He added: “Looking ahead, demand is strong, with research and market data indicating that travellers in our core markets within Europe and across the Atlantic remain committed to flying the same or more in 2026.”
IAG expects to increase capacity by about 3% this year.
Revenue rose 3.5%, which Gallego said was “driven by the strength of our brand and the successful execution of our strategy”.
British Airways generated operating profit of £2.2bn, up from £2.0bn in 2024.
IAG, which also owns Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level, carried 121.6 million passengers in 2025, down 0.4% from 122.0m a year earlier. At British Airways, passenger numbers rose 0.4% from 46.2 million to 46.3 million.
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