At the time, Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said they were being financially disciplined. Now reporting in Bloomberg offers more details about why Netflix executives backed down from a bidding war that they seemed to win back in December. 

For one thing, the streaming giant’s shareholders appeared deeply skeptical that the deal was a good one — Netflix’s share price declined 30% since announcing the acquisition, while the subsequent news that it was backing down sent Netflix stock back up nearly 14%. (It also collected a $2.8 billion breakup fee from Paramount.)

For another, Netflix’s commitment to the deal reportedly wavered after Paramount came in with an increased offer and seemed willing to go several more rounds in a bidding war.

By the time Sarandos met with Trump administration officials on Thursday, he may already have decided to concede. In fact, since President Donald Trump had previously warned him not to overpay, Sarandos reportedly told him, “I took your advice.”

Meanwhile, employees at Warner Bros. now worry about major studio layoffs and conservative political pressure on CNN.