What to know about the $82.7-billion Netflix-Warner Bros. deal that will reshape Hollywood

LA Times ^ | 5/12/25

[Eleutheria5]

What to know about the $82.7-billion Netflix-Warner Bros. deal that will reshape Hollywood

Netflix and Warner Bros. announced early this morning a blockbuster $82.7-billion deal for the TV streamer to acquire Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO.

Here’s what we know so far.

The takeover would give Netflix such beloved characters and franchises as Batman, Harry Potter and “Game of Thrones.” Netflix’s cash and stock transaction is valued at about $27.75 per Warner Bros. Discovery share. Netflix will take on another $10 billion in Warner Bros. debt. Warner’s cable channels, including CNN, TNT and HGTV, are not included in the deal. They will form a new publicly traded company, Discovery Global...

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: merger; monopoly; netflix; warnerbros

[Eleutheria5]

From my e-mail: We recently announced that Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO. This unites our leading entertainment service with Warner Bros.’ iconic stories, bringing some of the world’s most beloved franchises like Harry Potter, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Casablanca, Game of Thrones and the DC Universe together with Stranger Things, Wednesday, Squid Game, Bridgerton and KPop Demon Hunters.

What’s changing?

Nothing is changing today. Both streaming services will continue to operate separately. We have more steps to complete before the deal is closed, including regulatory and shareholder approvals. You’ll hear from us when we have more to share. In the meantime, we hope you’ll continue to enjoy watching as much as you want, whenever you want - all on your current membership plan.

From my Telegram feed: "US SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN CALLS PROPOSED NETFLIX/WARNER BROS DEAL AN 'ANTI MONOPOLY NIGHTMARE' THAT WILL RAISE CONSUMER COSTS, LIMIT CHOICE"

If Elizabeth Warren, a/k/a Gray Beaver, is against it, that's a point in the merger's favor, imho.

[Mr. Blond]

Expect all WB properties to disappear from Prime.

[Eleutheria5]

I don’t get Prime anyway. I did get Hulu for a while, long enough to see the Animaniacs reboot fall prey to Steven Spielberg’s acute, psychotic TDS.

[DoodleBob]

Bottom line, there is no enumerated power in the Constitution granting the govt the ability to break-up or halt merging companies. “Anti-Trust” law is the bastard child of a progressive/“living Constitution” approach to the Commerce Clause.

If you don’t like that reality, try the empirical reality: do you REALLY trust the Justice Department to break up firms, or decide if two willing groups of shareholders shouldn’t transact?

Here a better idea. Big Tech is imploding on its own. Hollywood is on the ropes. Leave business alone. Do something worthwhile, like lowering taxes and shedding regulation.

Let Sen Warren yammer on. Let them merge. And watch the new company fail.

[ClearCase_guy]

And just like that ... all the white people were gone.

[poconopundit]

Sounds like CNN will suffer the same fate as MSNBC. Spun off into a third rate news aggregator. This is good news for MAGA and Trump the Triumphant.

[Wuli]

Paramount offered more - $30 a share, for the whole company.

[redfreedom]

I expect those new Netflix properties will become a smut-orama. It will be wall to wall perversion and political innuendos.

Maybe someday the pendulum will swing back the other way, a little closer to the moral codes of the Victorian Age. This might happen after God once again smashes Sodom and Gomorrah, which could be all of western civilization.

[decal]

Wonder what they’ll do with “The Jazz Singer”...

[No name given]

Probably nothing good.

[Eleutheria5]

Netflix’s stock is doing very badly at present. Too late to short it.

[Eleutheria5]

I’m enjoying the new season of Stranger Things, and occasionally Netflix has classical movies that I loved. I saw The Guns of Navarrone for the first time on Netflix, not to mentione several Hitchcock flicks I either never got to see (Vertigo), or got to see again (Birds). All sans smut.

There is of course no shortage of smut, which I avoid, or even worse, boy on boy sex scenes (I immediately turn those off after giving them a thumbs-down rating).

It’s a valuable outlet, but mixed, and you do get a chance to make your feelings about individual items known by rating them. A new Meghan, Obama, or Kamala show could get an unequivocal thumbs down. So I’m for taking the good, striking back at the bad, and keeping my subscription going (ok, my grown son’s subscription that he lets me partake in).

[Organic Panic]

I get Netflix for free and I don’t bother watching their garbage.

[bigbob]

Most of the federal government has no basis in enumerated powers, but you know this.

Many mergers DO fail, not because the acquirer overpays and then is unable to cut costs enough to pay for the deal. Netflix already has an accounting department, legal staff, marketing communications department, etc just to name a couple of easy targets where they will reduce headcount to “achieve synergies”.

But that’s not what’s going to make this deal successful, if it turns out to be successful. That will be due to the use of AI. A kid with an NVIDIA GPU can produce cinematic quality video, it just takes a data center full of bigger ones to make a movie.

[clintonh8r]

She’s probably right this time.

[Teflonic]

The monopoly breakup of Bell in ‘82 did nothing but raise prices and give leftists a handhold on the industry.

[MikelTackNailer]

I refuse to give clicks to leftist propaganda producers so will have to go on what you posted.

Are the Saudis the ultimate buyers? They’ve been cornering the market on all sports entertainment broadcasts while making proposals to large networks. Apparently shoveling millions of dollars into just colleges isn’t buying enough good will fast enough for the Wahhabists.

[Veto!]

Hopefully movies will suck less. Really no hope for CNN and PMSNBC.

[maddog55]

If it’s Netflix, there as bad as Disney only more faggots.

[Allegra]

And just like that ... all the white people were gone.

And straight people.