New Delhi, Feb. 27 -- Shares of Netflix jumped nearly 12% on Friday, at around 12:47 pm (GMT-5), after the company dropped out of the race to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), with investors cheering its decision to walk away from the high-stakes deal.

At the same time, Paramount's shares rallied as much as 23% during the same time as the company emerged as the frontrunner to gain control of the multinational media entertainment conglomerate and its prized TV and film assets.

Meanwhile, WBD's stock was marginally lower, slipping more than 2% in Friday's trading session on Nasdaq.

Netflix's exit effectively clears the path for David Ellison-run Paramount Skydance to move ahead with a takeover of WBD, a battle that has been going on f...