Netflix Sets Hefty $25B Stock Buyback

Netflix has set a $25 billion stock buyback, looking to restore momentum for its shares after the planned Warner Bros. acquisition failed to materialize earlier this year.

The company announced the move in an SEC filing Thursday. The filing noted the new move follows a prior $6.8 billion buyback authorized in December 2024.

Netflix stock perked up in pre-market trading on the news. It is flat for 2026 to date, experiencing volatility around first-quarter earnings. Shares ran up prior to the earnings report but then dropped sharply after second-quarter guidance disappointed and co-founder Reed Hastings announced his departure from the company’s board of directors. They slumped 30% between last fall’s news of its interest in the Warner Bros. assets and the decision in February to withdraw, as investors fretted about the financial burden of what would have been by far its biggest-ever M&A transaction.

Stock buybacks are a tool used by companies to reduce the amount of shares outstanding, which can stimulate prices, and also to signal confidence in the company’s strategic direction. In some cases, like Viacom’s wayward run through the 2010s, companies can become obsessed with buybacks instead of investing in the company’s core businesses, which can end up causing long-term damage.

During the company’s first-quarter earnings interview, Netflix execs expressed conviction about their decision to bow out of the Warner Bros. bidding. Paramount prevailed, with its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery under regulatory review.

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the company built up its “M&A muscle” in putting together its $82.7 billion offer for WBD’s studios-and-streaming unit. After not doing any M&A in its first 20 years as a company, Netflix in recent years has completed a dozen or so transactions, but all at the sub-$1 billion level.

“Our biggest risk was losing focus on our core business while we were working on the transaction,” Sarandos said during the earnings interview. “So, as you can see from our Q1 results, we did not lose focus. We’re very encouraged by the team’s ability to stay focused on our core business while, you know, exploring this opportunity, as well. Historically, we’ve been builders and not buyers, so there were certainly questions, internally and externally, about our ability to do a deal of this size. What we did learn, though, was that our teams were more than up to the task.”