Now that it doesn’t have to pay for Warner Bros., Netflix is using its capital to buy back more shares: The streaming giant said its board authorized a buyback of an additional $25 billion of the company’s stock.
On April 22, Netflix’s board of directors authorized the repurchase of an additional $25 billion of common stock, without an expiration date, the company disclosed in an SEC filing Thursday. That’s designed to return cash to shareholders — and goose the price of Netflix shares, which took a major hit after the company clinched an $83 billion deal to buy Warner Bros.’ streaming and studios business.
In February, Netflix backed away from the WB deal after Paramount Skydance upped its hostile takeover bid for all of Warner Bros. Discovery. In announcing the end of its pursuit of Warner Bros., Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters reiterated plans to invest $20 billion “in quality films and series” in 2026 and that the company would resume its share-repurchase program.
The new $25 billion share-buyback program is in addition to the repurchase program authorized in December 2024. Netflix had approximately $6.8 billion available for repurchase as of March 31 under the previous share-repurchase authorization. In Q1, the company repurchased 13.5 million shares for about $1.3 billion.
“Our capital allocation approach is unchanged,” Netflix said in its Q1 2026 letter to shareholders. “We first prioritize reinvestment in the business, both organically and through selective M&A, while maintaining liquidity and then returning excess cash to shareholders through share repurchases.”
Netflix stock hit an all-time high of $134.12/share in intraday trading in June 2025. In December, the stock cratered more than 40% from that peak after Netflix announced the agreement to buy Warner Bros., as investors were concerned about the company taking on a massive new tranche of debt in what was viewed as a risky M&A move.
Shares of Netflix rebounded after it called off the WB acquisition, rising to $107.79/share at close on April 16. But the stock price has dropped more than 10% from there after the company issued weaker-than-expected Q2 guidance. Netflix closed at $93.24/share on Wednesday (April 22).
Netflix ended the first quarter with gross debt of $14.4 billion and cash and cash equivalents of $12.3 billion. The company noted that its cash position “is more elevated than normal due to the pause in our share repurchase program during the Warner Bros. transaction and the subsequent receipt of the deal termination fee.” Paramount paid Netflix a $2.8 billion deal-breakup fee after Warner Bros. Discovery terminated their M&A agreement in favor of Paramount’s higher offer.
Netflix said its stock repurchases “may be effected through open market repurchases”; via privately negotiated transactions; accelerated stock repurchase plans; block purchases; or other “similar purchase techniques and in such amounts as management deems appropriate.”
