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The Netflix Dropout: Paramount Overpays For Warner Bros; Block Gets Rewarded For A 40% Layoff; and Burger King Listens For “Please” and “Thank You”

Updated: 11 hours ago

Netflix abandoned its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing the way for Paramount’s higher offer and signaling a disciplined approach to dealmaking. Block is making an even bolder statement, cutting nearly half its workforce as CEO Jack Dorsey argues that AI allows smaller teams to do more, a move investors rewarded. Nvidia delivered another earnings beat but saw its stock fall as markets debate how much longer the AI boom can sustain hyperscale spending. And Burger King is embedding AI into employee headsets to streamline operations and monitor customer interactions. All this and more in today’s Read It and Eat!



Markets Around The World

Markets as of 26th February 2026. Cells in RED mean that the value is down, cells in Green mean the value is up.


MAJOR HEADLINES




  • The Netflix Dropout; Paramount Goes For Sloppy Seconds

     

     

The takeover battle for Warner Bros. Discovery has unfolded over months, beginning with Netflix agreeing in December to an $82.7 billion deal, including assumed debt, to acquire the studio and streaming assets of the Hollywood giant. However, rival bidder Paramount Skydance continued to submit counteroffers for the entire company, keeping the auction alive. Late Thursday, Warner Bros. deemed Paramount’s latest $31-a-share proposal — valuing the company at $111 billion — the superior offer, positioning the Skydance-backed bid to prevail.

 

Netflix ultimately chose not to raise its offer further. In a statement, the streaming leader said that while it believed its proposal would have passed regulatory review and created shareholder value, matching Paramount’s latest bid was “no longer financially attractive.” Instead, the company said it will remain disciplined and focus on investing in its core business, including roughly $20 billion this year on films, television and other content.

 

Investors welcomed the retreat. Netflix shares jumped as much as 13% in after-hours trading following the announcement, signaling relief that the company would avoid an expensive bidding war and regulatory uncertainty. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. shares fell as expectations of a higher counterbid faded, while Paramount shares were little changed. Yahoo.Finance



  •  Block Eliminated 40% of its Workforce; and the Market Rewarded It

 

Block, the company behind Square, Cash App and Afterpay, is cutting roughly 40% of its staff,  more than 4,000 employees reducing its workforce to just under 6,000. In a letter to shareholders, co-founder Jack Dorsey said the reductions are driven by “intelligence tools,” arguing that a significantly smaller team can do more using AI. CFO Amrita Ahuja added that the company sees an opportunity to move faster with leaner, highly skilled teams automating more work. Dorsey insisted the business remains strong, with gross profit continuing to grow, and said the move is proactive rather than reactive.

 

The decision echoes broader warnings about AI’s impact on employment. A recent Centrini research paper cautioned that artificial intelligence could displace a meaningful share of white-collar roles as automation capabilities improve, particularly in administrative, operational and mid-level knowledge jobs. Across the tech sector, firms including Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Verizon have also reduced headcount amid AI-driven restructuring. Dorsey went further, predicting that within a year most companies will reach the same conclusion and implement similar structural changes.

 

Investors appeared to agree with the strategy. Block shares surged as much as 24% following the announcement, signaling market approval of a leaner, AI-first operating model. The rally suggests shareholders view workforce reductions and automation as margin-accretive, and potentially a blueprint other CEOs may soon follow as competitive pressure to adopt AI intensifies.  Yahoo.Finance


  • Nvidia stock falls as Q4 beat, guidance fail to satisfy Wall Street

     

Nvidia (NVDA) stock fell more than 5% on Thursday as Wall Street tried to square the company's strong Q4 earnings and Q1 outlook with broader anxiety surrounding the AI trade. For the quarter, Nvidia saw earnings per share (EPS) of $1.62 on revenue of $68.1 billion. Wall Street was anticipating EPS of $1.53 on revenue of $65.8 billion, according to Bloomberg analyst consensus estimates.

 

The company also offered Q1 guidance between $76.44 billion and $79.56 billion, above Wall Street's estimates of $72.8 billion. Nvidia's data center drove the vast majority of that growth, bringing in $62.3 billion for the period. That's better than analysts' projections of $60.2 billion. CFO Colette Kress said much of that came from hyperscalers. "For the fourth quarter, hyperscaler revenue increased and remained our largest customer category at slightly over 50% of Data Center revenue, while growth was led by the rest of our Data Center customers as revenue diversified," she said in a statement.

 

Nvidia breaks down its data center business into compute, graphics chips and CPUs, and networking. For the quarter, the company said computer revenue grew 58% year over year, while networking soared 263% to $11 billion. Nvidia's results come just a few weeks before the company is set to host its GTC 2026 event in San Jose, Calif., where it's expected to make a number of major product announcements. Yahoo.Finance



  • Burger King will use AI to check if employees say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’



Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that will live in the headsets used by employees. The voice-enabled chatbot, called “Patty,” is part of an overarching BK Assistant platform that will not only assist employees with meal preparation but also evaluate their interactions with customers for “friendliness.”

 

 

Thibault Roux, Burger King’s chief digital officer, tells The Verge that the company compiled information from franchisees and guests on how to measure friendliness, resulting in the fast food chain training its AI system to recognize certain words and phrases, such as “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.” Managers can then ask the AI assistant how their location is performing on friendliness. “This is all meant to be a coaching tool,” Roux says, adding that the company is “iterating” on capturing the tone of conversations as well.

 

 

The OpenAI-powered Patty serves as the “voice” of the BK Assistant platform, which combines data across drive-thru conversations, kitchen equipment, inventory, and other areas of the Burger King business. Employees can ask Patty questions, such as how many strips of bacon to put on a Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper, or for instructions on how to clean the shake machine. Because it’s integrated with the new cloud point-of-sale system, the AI assistant will also alert managers if a machine is down for maintenance or when an item is out of stock. “Within 15 minutes, the entire ecosystem will remove it from stock, whether you’re walking into a restaurant to order from the kiosk, whether you’re going to the drive-thru, the digital menu board will be updated,” Roux says. The Verge

 

Minor Headlines

 

  • LSEG Shares Rise After Forecast of Profitability Boost, $4 Billion Buybacks Wall Street Journal

 

  • NATO says iPhones are secure enough to handle classified data  The Verge

 

  • Deutsche Bank and Goldman look to AI to flag trader misconduct Bloomberg

 

  • UK car production drops in January as exports falter Reuters

 

 

  • A hacker used Claude to steal Mexican government data Bloomberg

 

 


Earnings Headlines

 

 

Healthcare

 

  • Hims beat Q4 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and guidance due to regulatory headwinds over its GLP-1 weight-loss products (RT) 

 

 

Restaurants / Consumer Dining

 

  • Domino's beat Q4 estimates on 3.7% same-store sales growth and laid out ambitious growth plans to double business as rivals struggle (CNBC)

 

 

  • Cava issued a Q4 beat-and-raise after posting $1B in FY revenue for the first time on recovering younger foot traffic and strong menu prices (CNBC) 

 

 

Home Improvement Retail

 

  • Home Depot beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates for the first time in a year despite falling sales and modest price increases from tariffs as demand for projects remains muted (CNBC) 

 

 

  • Lowe's beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but issued a soft outlook amid a persistently weak housing market (CNBC)

 

 

Enterprise Technology / Software

 

  • Workday beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but provided weak guidance amid increased worries about AI disruption (CNBC) 

 

 

  • Salesforce beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but issued a mixed outlook while highlighting AI as a tailwind to agentic adoption and dismissing 'SaaSpocalypse' fears (CNBC) 

 

 

  • Snowflake beat Q4 estimates and issued strong guidance as enterprise demand for AI drove clients to its cloud-based data analytics platform (RT) 

 

 

Hardware / Semiconductors

 

  • HP beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates driven by growth in AI PCs but issued week guidance due to heightened memory prices (BBG)

 

 

  • Nvidia beat Q4 estimates and issued strong guidance as data center sales surged 75% to push FY revenue above $200B for the first time (WSJ) 

 

 

Entertainment / Media

 

  • AMC beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates on a strong year for film despite a decline in attendance (BW)

 

  • Warner Bros. Discovery beat Q4 revenue estimates but reported wider-than-expected losses as studio and network revenue continued to decline; the firm is set to be acquired by Paramount (BBG) 

 

 

Fintech / Crypto

 

  • Circle topped Q4 earnings and revenue estimates as a surge in stablecoin demand defies the crash in Bitcoin and other crypto assets (WSJ) 

 

 

AI Infrastructure / Cloud Computing

 

  • CoreWeave beat Q4 revenue estimates as compute demand boosted revenue by 110% and backlogs to $67B (CNBC) 

 

 

  • Dell beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates and projected $50B in FY AI server revenue on top of a record $43B backlog (BBG) 

 

 

Banking / Financial Services

 

  • TD Bank Group beat Q4 estimates with record earnings across US and domestic retail and markets businesses amid cost-cutting efforts (BBG)

 

 

Consumer Staples / Beverages

 

  • Celsius beat Q4 estimates as sales more than doubled following its acquisition of Alani Nu, reaching ~20% US energy drink market share and allaying distribution concerns (YH) 

 

 

Utilities / Power Generation

 

 

  • Vistra beat Q4 earnings estimates on an AI-driven surge in electricity demand from data centers (RT) 

 

 

EdTech

 

  • Duolingo beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but forecast slower bookings growth and lower profitability as the company prioritizes AI investment and user growth over monetization (BBG)

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