Happy Wednesday, N2K reader!

This week’s world-famous news haiku competition™ is about all the high-profile business, tech and finance people who’ve shown up in the Epstein Files. Send me your entry — to our spiffy email address, haiku at cheddar dot com — by noon ET Thursday, for consideration by your Cheddar peers!

And now for something completely different.

Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▲ 0.1% )   $DJI ( ▲ 0.07% )   $NDX ( ▲ 0.14% )  

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$WBD ( ▲ 2.72% )   $PSKY ( ▲ 4.94% )   $NFLX ( ▲ 0.17% )   $MSFT ( ▼ 1.11% )   $META ( ▼ 0.08% )  

Warner Bros gives Paramount a week for its best and final offer

Warner Bros Discovery $WBD ( ▲ 2.72% ) has reignited the bidding war for its future, granting Paramount $PSKY ( ▲ 4.94% ) a seven-day window to make its “best and final” offer after Netflix's $NFLX ( ▲ 0.17% ) $83 billion acquisition bid. The WBD board appears firm in its support for the Netflix deal but has allowed the weeklong talks to fully assess Paramount’s intentions.

“This is a ‘put up or shut up’ moment for Paramount,” said a source close to the negotiations, talking to the Financial Times. Paramount’s latest $108 billion offer includes all of WBD’s assets, unlike Netflix’s bid, and promises improved chances of antitrust approval. However, WBD has expressed doubts, with CEO David Zaslav calling on Paramount to address the “deficiencies” in its proposal and deliver a “binding” deal that offers “superior value.”

While Paramount has hinted at raising its bid from $30 to $31 per share — and even going higher — no formal revision has been made. Paramount insists its current bid is already stronger than Netflix’s and has garnered support from an activist investor opposing the Netflix deal, Ancora Holdings. However, Netflix warned that Paramount is “misleading WBD stockholders” about regulatory risks.

WBD shareholders will vote on the Netflix deal on March 20. With tensions mounting, these seven days could shape the future of the legendary studio behind Harry Potter and Friends. Or they could just decide which streaming platform you’re able to watch those properties on in a year’s time.