India, Feb. 28 -- After months of a heated bidding war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance, the streaming giant dropped out of the race to acquire Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) on Thursday. Netflix declined to match the revised bid offered by Paramount Skydance, which was deemed "superior". In a statement, Netflix stated that while they would been "strong stewards of Warner Bros' iconic brands", and that their deal would have "strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the US", the transaction "was always a 'nice to have' at the right price, not a 'must have' at any price". Netflix and Paramount have vied for complete ownership of WBD's film and television studios as well as its vast content library since November last year. Netflix's initial offer had valued WBD at $82.7 billion, while Paramount's valuation of the combined business stood at $108 billion. A Paramount buyout of WBD is touted to reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape. Unlike Netflix, which was only eyeing Warner's studio and streaming business, Paramount wants the entire company. That means HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like Harry Potter, and even CNN could soon find themselves under the same roof as Paramount's CBS, Top Gun, and the Paramount+ streaming service. ap...