Bugs Bunny could soon have a new boss: Netflix has announced an agreement to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service and studios, potentially creating a new streaming powerhouse and drastically changing the entertainment landscape. But while Netflix and Warner Bros. are moving forward with their deal, another player, Paramount Skydance, has also announced a hostile bid for the company. All the while, President Donald Trump is weighing in on the possible merger, and regulatory questions remain in a deal that could alter Hollywood for good.
Netflix’s potential $83 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery would “reshuffle the entertainment landscape, rounding up classics such ‘Casablanca’ and beloved HBO series ’Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Sopranos’ under the streaming service's umbrella,” said USA Today. Beyond an expanded library of content, combining Netflix with Warner Bros. would also create a massive, consolidated new customer base by “adding HBO Max’s nearly 130 million streaming subscribers to Netflix’s 300 million or so.”
The deal isn’t entirely unexpected; Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has “long coveted HBO programming,” and as far back as 2010 was “intent on getting some older HBO shows on its nascent streaming service,” said The New York Times. Fifteen years later, the potential deal has “set off concerns about the future of theatrical releases. It also left many questions about the future of the storied HBO brand.”
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But even as Netflix claims the purchase is a done deal, Paramount has launched its own $108.4 billion competing bid. Paramount “repeatedly argued to the WBD board of directors that keeping Warner Bros. Discovery whole is in the best interest of its shareholders,” said CNBC. Paramount CEO David Ellison has long expressed interest in buying Warner Bros. The company is “really here to finish what we started,” Ellison, a close ally of Trump, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” saying they “put the company in play.” Paramount has “accused Warner of ‘never engaging meaningfully’ with its six various proposals,” said NPR.
What next?
The dueling bids have “created a cupboard full of industry stakeholders” who “need to be pondering their next move,” said Forbes. Entertainment players from movie theater operators to various Hollywood unions have weighed in on the issue, as the “expected fallout will be enormous” no matter what company emerges victorious in the bidding war. Beyond the companies themselves, a “new regulatory scramble will ensue.”
The president has claimed the Netflix deal “could be a problem” due to antitrust laws. Trump has seemingly expressed interest in his ally Ellison’s Paramount buying Warner Bros., which currently owns CNN. Affinity Partners, a private equity firm led by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, is also part of Paramount’s bid, according to an SEC filing. Paramount is “telling WBD shareholders that it has a smoother path to regulatory approval than does Netflix,” said Axios, and “Kushner’s involvement only strengthens that case.”
The potential Netflix purchase has also “drawn criticism from bipartisan lawmakers and unions on concerns it could lead to job cuts and higher prices for consumers,” said Reuters. This is underscored by the fact that Trump has pledged to be involved in the transaction, and the “political dynamics may be further complicated by Warner Bros. Discovery’s rejection of Paramount, a studio with Trump connections, in favor of Netflix.”
