At Netflix’s holiday/awards season kickoff party Tuesday night, one topic was strictly off-limits, the then-ongoing bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery, in which Netflix was competing against Paramount Skydance and Comcast .

Unlike Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison , who pulled out from his Wednesday appearance at the NYT’s DealBook Summit, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos showed up at the streamer’s off-the-record event, mingling for hours and taking pictures with talent, including Jacob Elordi, Ted Danson, Rian Johnson and Mike Schur.

But if a reporter broached the WBD sale in any way, even as a joke, Sarandos would walk away. The Netflix boss clearly was not going to do anything that might jeopardize his company’s chances in the high-stakes auction.

Forty eight hours later, Netf

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