Netflix Drops After Paramount's Hostile Warner Bros. Bid

US stocks pulled away from their record heights on Monday.

• The S&P 500 fell 23.89 points, or 0.3%, to 6,846.51, though it remains close to its all-time high set in October.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 215.67 points, or 0.4%, to 47,739.32.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 32.22 points, or 0.1%, to 23,545.90.

Berkshire Hathaway was a heavy weight on the market and fell 1.4% after announcing a shake-up of some of its top leadership. Todd Combs, who had been CEO of the company's GEICO insurance business, is leaving for a job at JPMorgan Chase, while Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg will retire next year, the AP reports. Treasury yields rose ahead of the Federal Reserve's Wednesday meeting. The wide expectation is for it to cut interest rates but also hint at fewer cuts in 2026.

Netflix dropped 3.4% after Paramount announced a bid in hopes of trumping Netflix's deal to buy Warner Bros., which was announced last week. Paramount said it's offering $30 for each Warner Bros. Discovery share, as well as a quicker and easier way for investors to get their payout. Paramount is offering to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery in cash, unlike Netflix's offer of cash and stock for just Warner Bros. following its pending split with Discovery The board of directors for Warner Bros. Discovery had agreed to Netflix's offer last week, but it's already facing potential scrutiny from federal regulators because of worries about too much industry power sitting at one company. Warner Bros. Discovery rose 4.4% following the hostile buyout bid, and Paramount Skydance's stock climbed 9%.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Confluent soared 29.1% after IBM said it would buy the company, which helps customers connect and process data. IBM said the $11 billion deal will help customers deploy artificial-intelligence tools better and faster, and its shares added 0.6%. Carvana jumped 12.1% in its first trading after learning it will join the S&P 500 index on Dec. 22. Many professional investors directly mimic the index or at least measure their performance against it, which will push many to buy any stocks within it. CRH, a provider of building materials, rose 5.9%, and Comfort Systems USA, a provider of mechanical and electrical contracting services, was mostly unchanged after likewise learning they'll join the S&P 500 in a couple weeks.

They will replace LKQ, Solstice Advanced Materials, and Mohawk Industries, which have all shrunk enough in size that they'll drop down to the S&P SmallCap 600 index of smaller stocks. CoreWeave sank 2.3% after the AI cloud company said it's raising $2 billion in debt that it could repay in stock and cash.