Netflix is buying Warner Bros: All of the latest updates
After a bidding war that reportedly also involved Paramount, Comcast, Amazon, and Apple, on December 5th, Netflix struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion, buying the studio, HBO / HBO Max, Warner Games, and more, while leaving cable and sports assets, including CNN, TNT Sports, and the Discovery channels out.
A few days later, Paramount tried to force its way into the arrangement, announcing a hostile bid worth $108.4 billion in cash.
There are already questions and comments coming from politicians and regulators about the proposed acquisition, and you can follow along below for all of the latest updates as they come in.
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Trump isn’t sold on the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal. -
In November, Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, made a trip to the White House for a lengthy meeting with Donald Trump. According to Bloomberg, the two discussed a number of topics, but chief among them was Netflix’s plan to bid on Warner Bros. At the end of their conversation, Sarandos felt that “Netflix wouldn’t face immediate opposition from the White House.”
This week, Netflix successfully won the bidding war for Warner, offering $82.7 billion. It’s well known that Paramount and its CEO David Ellison were eager to acquire the storied studio and its streaming assets. Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison, have close ties to the White House, and as part of their pitch to Warner, suggested that only they were in a position to overcome the regulatory hurdles of further media consolidation.
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Warner Bros. has an infamous history of being bought by other companies and then quickly ending up back on the market after its new owners realize how difficult it is to capitalize on a legacy production studio’s assets. Those challenges are part of what doomed WB’s mergers with AOL and AT&T, who bought the studio in attempts to reinvent themselves. But WB’s latest acquisition deal — this time with Netflix for $83 billion — feels like it has the potential to turn out differently because of how much of a major player within the entertainment industry the streamer has become. It also signals just how far Netflix has come: in less than two decades the streamer has gone from tech upstart to subsuming one of the most storied studios in Hollywood.
Assuming that the deal receives regulatory approval, Netflix will soon own the entirety of Warner Bros.’ (but not Discovery Global’s) assets, which includes HBO / HBO Max, DC Studios, and the legacy studio’s television and film production arms. This would make Netflix the corporate home to many more of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises, like Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, and give the streamer a much larger operational footprint as a proper studio. Discovery Global — which retains ownership of networks including CNN, the Discovery Channel, and TLC — is set to become an independent corporate entity by Q3 in 2026.
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Netflix’s leadership thinks the Warner Bros. deal won’t be like other big media mergers.We understand these assets that we’re buying, the things that are critical in Warner Bros. are key businesses that we operate in, and we understand. A lot of times, the acquiring company, it was a legacy non-growth business that was looking for sort of a lifeline. That doesn’t apply to us.
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Netflix is “highly confident” about the regulatory process for the deal.
This deal is pro consumer, pro innovation, pro worker, it’s pro creator, it’s pro growth. And our plans here are to work really closely with all the appropriate governments and regulators, but really confident that we’re going to get all the necessary approvals that we need.
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The Writers Guild of America published a statement on the deal.
The world’s largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent. The outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers. Industry workers along with the public are already impacted by only a few powerful companies maintaining tight control over what consumers can watch on television, on streaming, and in theaters. This merger must be blocked.
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Netflix on its plans for WB’s theatrical slate:
Netflix expects to maintain Warner Bros.’ current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films.
“Expects” is doing a lot of work there. But responding to an investor question about theatrical plans, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said:
I wouldn’t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies or for Warner movies for that matter.
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THR published WBD CEO David Zaslav’s memo to staff about the Netflix acquisition.
WBD’s board of directors determined that “this structure – Warner Bros. joining Netflix, and Discovery Global becoming a focused standalone company – provides the strongest long-term foundation for both sets of businesses,” Zaslav says.
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Netflix’s Warner Bros. deal includes Warner Bros. Games.
TweakTown says it has “received confirmation that Warner Bros.’ games studios, IP, and content will indeed be part of the transaction.”
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Netflix has announced that it’s struck a deal to acquire Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion. The purchase will go through after Warner Bros.’ planned split from Discovery, now expected to take place in Q3 2026. It will see the streamer acquire the Warner studio, both HBO and HBO Max, and access to IP, including Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and DC Comics.
“Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” said Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix. “By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies — from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends — with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we’ll be able to do that even better.”
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Yet another rumor suggests that Netflix is interested in buying Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses. On Friday, Reuters reported that Netflix is “actively exploring” a bid for the company and has hired a bank to look into a potential offer.
Sources tell Reuters that Netflix now has access to Warner Bros. Discovery’s “data room,” which the outlet says “contains the financial details needed to make a bid.” Last week, Bloomberg reported that Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are all considering purchasing parts or all of the company. Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh has also left the door open to a potential deal.
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Three of the rumored potential buyers for entertainment titan Warner Bros. Discovery are tech companies. Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are all interested in buying Warner Bros. Discovery as a whole or acquiring pieces of the company, like its content libraries and production assets, according to Bloomberg.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was launching a “review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, in light of unsolicited interest the Company has received from multiple parties for both the entire company and Warner Bros.” According to the report, after receiving the above inquiries, as well as others from Paramount and Comcast, it’s readying nondisclosure agreements for the prospective buyers ahead of sharing financial data with them.
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Warner Bros. Discovery has finally said out loud what has been obvious for months now: it wants to be acquired by another entertainment megacorporation.
Today, WBD announced that it “has initiated a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value” — a roundabout way of saying that the company is open to the possibility of a massive acquisition deal with the right buyer. The news comes just months after WBD’s decision to split Warner Bros. and Discovery Global into two separate corporate entities tasked with running the company’s streaming and cable businesses
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For most of his career Larry Ellison has been content to quietly let Oracle be the company, behind the company, behind the technology that makes headlines. Its biggest products being cloud computing and database products that it sells to enterprise customers like DHL, Northwell Health, and Fanatics. But, now in his 80s, Ellison has begun a second act shifting from Silicon Valley pioneer, to media mogul.
Compared to many of the other people at the top of the Forbes Billionaires list, Larry Ellison tends to keep a low profile. That’s not to say he hasn’t seen his fair share of headlines, especially in recent years. But he, and his company Oracle, aren’t being routinely dragged in front of congress for high profile shouting matches, or being accused of ruining an entire generation of children in op-ed pages.
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