Netflix acquires Warner Brothers

Absolute Chaos - Inside the Messy Netflix, Paramount, Warner Brothers Deal - Cold Fusion​

When it comes to big tech, it well and truly seems like it's taking over everything. But what happens when it comes for Hollywood. In this episode we check it the insane chaos behind the Netflix/ Warner Brothers/ Paramount deal.
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What I would like is when Netflix gets ownership that they release all the finished movies that WB made , but they intentionally canned due to get tax breaks.

Paramount /CBS is tainted with the orange goon and his family /cronies. So they can get stuffed. It's sad cos they own the Trekkie stuff.
 
Look, it would also be great that on one platform I can see Netflix, HBO, DC, and whatever. Tired of so many apps and services.

The one thing I am doing in 2026 is sequencing my sub spend. 3 months Netflix, then 3 months prime, etc. There is no need to pay for all simultaneously which is a mistake many of us make. We don't have to be loyal to any of them.
 
TedLasso said:
Look, it would also be great that on one platform I can see Netflix, HBO, DC, and whatever. Tired of so many apps and services.

The one thing I am doing in 2026 is sequencing my sub spend. 3 months Netflix, then 3 months prime, etc. There is no need to pay for all simultaneously which is a mistake many of us make. We don't have to be loyal to any of them.
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Welcome to the new a cable like streaming services.
Every studio and it's dog wanted in on what Netflix had and basically took all their content back.
 
TedLasso said:
What I would like is when Netflix gets ownership that they release all the finished movies that WB made , but they intentionally canned due to get tax breaks.

Paramount /CBS is tainted with the orange goon and his family /cronies. So they can get stuffed. It's sad cos they own the Trekkie stuff.
Click to expand...

Out of date - Paramount ended up appearing in the lead with a stronger offer, but then we heard about a week ago that Trump is instead annoyed with CBS News & Paramount for since portraying him in a bad light, so son-in-law Jared Kushner's Affinity has reportedly pulled out from financially backing the Paramount deal.
Presumably that includes the Arab partners' interest that had been included.

www.theguardian.com

Jared Kushner’s firm exits takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery

Affinity Partners, key backer of hostile bid by Paramount, reportedly steps back following scrutiny of Kushner’s role
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com


Will depend if Paramount can still support their higher offer, and anything higher needed if they all continue to barter further.
 
Brian_G said:
Out of date - Paramount ended up appearing in the lead with a stronger offer,
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daringfireball.net

‘Netflix and the Hollywood End Game’

Link to: https://stratechery.com/2025/netflix-and-the-hollywood-end-game/
daringfireball.net daringfireball.net

Paramount’s bid, it should be noted, was for the entire Warner Bros. Discovery business, including the TV and cable networks that will be split off next year; Netflix is only buying the Warner Bros. part. Puck reported that the stub Netflix is leaving behind is being valued at $5/share, which would mean that Netflix outbid Paramount.

And, it should be noted, that Paramount money wouldn’t be from the actual business, which is valued at a mere $14 billion; new owner David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is worth $275 billion. Netflix, meanwhile, is worth $425 billion and generated $9 billion in cash flow over the last year. Absent family money this wouldn’t be anywhere close to a fair fight.
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Smiggles said:
daringfireball.net

‘Netflix and the Hollywood End Game’

Link to: https://stratechery.com/2025/netflix-and-the-hollywood-end-game/
daringfireball.net daringfireball.net
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Much of that is just Netflix-biased opinion. You forgot the final paragraph which shows that;

It’s not illegal or even sketchy for an acquisition to be backed by family money from an entirely separate source (in the Ellisons’ case, Oracle), but it certainly makes more business sense for Netflix to make this acquisition than Paramount. There’s a strong argument that David Ellison doesn’t really know what the **** he’s doing in the media racket; no one would argue that Netflix doesn’t know exactly what they’re doing.
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But also outdated, that's from the 9th. And others have certainly been seeing the Paramount bid as being more lucrative for the shareholders.


Anyway, interesting that Oracle is still considered the primary Paramount backer, not Affinity as I believed.. so it seems game over could be far off still.
 
Lupus said:
Welcome to the new a cable like streaming services.
Every studio and it's dog wanted in on what Netflix had and basically took all their content back.
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Have to wonder how it's all going to play out.

If Netfix wins this round, goodbye cinemas as we know them? And who would hold them to account regarding poorer (read as cheaper) content again after a few years?
So I've changed my personal backing; Paramount better for all long term, despite the local Multichoice monopoly - a few reality channels or classic movies shouldn't matter to streamers. Though presumably there are a few good WBD movies to be lost...


Later rounds? Large mergers are rare, so hopefully may boil down to the competitive spirit which would be good for productions again. And for the public, this seems the best solution for streaming;

TedLasso said:
The one thing I am doing in 2026 is sequencing my sub spend. 3 months Netflix, then 3 months prime, etc. There is no need to pay for all simultaneously which is a mistake many of us make. We don't have to be loyal to any of them.
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My solution in this case would also include downloading instead of streaming. The suppliers' pet dislike, but nothing they can do about it, it isn't ever individually challenged in court anywhere.
 
BBSA said:
Illegal activity as a way to protest?
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It's been labelled as potentially illegal (IF someone then distributes the content), not aware of any direct labeling.

In my case not to protest though, merely convenience. I download almost everything I like, then watch it whenever it's convenient to me. That's also not liked of course, suppliers want content to expire so they can keep everyone on a time-limited string too.


Only problem is those who prefer 4K - that's quite a lot of storage size then needed.
Although @Lupus seems to think it's too limited a supply to even worry about that.
 
Brian_G said:
Out of date - Paramount ended up appearing in the lead with a stronger offer, but then we heard about a week ago that Trump is instead annoyed with CBS News & Paramount for since portraying him in a bad light, so son-in-law Jared Kushner's Affinity has reportedly pulled out from financially backing the Paramount deal.
Presumably that includes the Arab partners' interest that had been included.

www.theguardian.com

Jared Kushner’s firm exits takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery

Affinity Partners, key backer of hostile bid by Paramount, reportedly steps back following scrutiny of Kushner’s role
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com


Will depend if Paramount can still support their higher offer, and anything higher needed if they all continue to barter further.
Click to expand...
Yeah I had read all of that , but the ellison's are still involved and it looks like they don't have the money they fronted too. Hence WB said in their release, the Paramount offer (all 6 of them) are in bad faith in some ways and for the shareholders to reject it. The Netflix offer gives better value to the shareholders.

Anyway, we shall see how it plays out. Maybe it will end up being a PRIME TV show :)
 
TedLasso said:
Yeah I had read all of that , but the ellison's are still involved and it looks like they don't have the money they fronted too. Hence WB said in their release, the Paramount offer (all 6 of them) are in bad faith in some ways and for the shareholders to reject it. The Netflix offer gives better value to the shareholders.
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They will at least have had the money via Affinity & co. before. WBD management are clearly very anti Paramount (or maybe in bed with Netflix already), so I don't take their comments too seriously.

TedLasso said:
Anyway, we shall see how it plays out. Maybe it will end up being a PRIME TV show :)
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Lol. Not sure I would want to watch that.
 
BBSA said:
Warner Bros did not get the woke memo?
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They're letting Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis do their thing with The Hunt for Gollum, so that shows they don''t have rainbows coming out of their rears like Netflix.
 
Brian_G said:
My solution in this case would also include downloading instead of streaming. The suppliers' pet dislike, but nothing they can do about it, it isn't ever individually challenged in court anywhere.
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BBSA said:
Illegal activity as a way to protest?
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Another reason I'm against streaming - some content providers keep the supply bandwidth on the edge. Like a first-broadcast show I just needed to screen-capture, from iTV last night; as soon as there's too much on-stage movement the quality drops. Also when there's a popular segment on.

Streets ahead of DStv stream quality of course, but still a problem IMO.

With forced downloading (when possible) it's a direct access of their server's file, so no loss of quality.
 
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