UPDATE: Netflix deal with Warner Bros. challenged by Paramount

Dec. 8: After Netflix announced the details of the Warner Bros. acquisiton pending antitrust approval, Paramount Skydance responded with a hostile bid of their own worth $108.4 billion. This bid, if it succeeds, would give Paramount access to Warner Bros. Discovery's assets, intellectual property, game studios, HBO, and DC Comics.

According to reporting from Reuters, the Warner Bros. Discovery board of directors will review the offer, but "is not modifying its recommendation with respect to Netflix" and advised the company to "take no action at this time."

The offer from Paramount is meant to be overwhelmingly superior to the Netflix deal on the table, and includes financing from Affinity Partners. If you find that name familiar, you may be recalling Affinity Partners as one of the private equity firms behind the acquisition of Electronic Arts in September. Affinity is run by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump, and has ties to both Larry Ellison and the Saudi government.

The Paramount deal offers shareholders $18 billion dollars more in cash, and "an easier path to regulatory approval" – perhaps due to Affinity's deep ties to the White House. Much like the original announcement, we'll have to wait and see if antitrust regulators strike the deal down, or if Warner Bros. Discovery even accepts the new offer.

Netflix is set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. in a massive $82.7 billion acquisition that includes HBO Max and HBO, along with properties like DC comics, prestige television series like The Sopranos, the WB Games studios, and the Game of Thrones universe. It’s a big get for Netflix, a company that has been facing increasing competition from other streaming services as everyone raced for a slice of the new media pie in a post-cable world. 

The sale itself isn’t a surprise; Warner Bros. Discovery announced in October that the company was initiating a “review of potential alternatives to maximize shareholder value”, and Paramount and Comcast were reportedly among the interested buyers.

The transaction has yet to close; Warner Brothers is separating its Global Networks division into a new publicly traded company known as Discovery Global, a process that is expected to be completed in Q3 2026. The deal will require regulatory approval, and its likely that the entertainment industry will have serious concerns with the deal. The Director’s Guild of America is already lining up talks with Netflix, and Variety reported that a group of anonymous A-listers in the industry have begun campaigning Congress in opposition to the acquisition.

Despite the press release sharing all the anticipated shareholder value at stake, this deal could be catastrophic for the entertainment industry. We’ve already seen Warner Bros. Discovery shutter studios and unceremoniously cancel projects for tax breaks. With the rise of AI, constant layoffs in the entertainment industry, and increasingly sanitized and censored works, it doesn’t seem like consolidating two titans into an even bigger company is a great idea. We’ll have to see whether the deal is able to bypass its opposition next year, and whether Netflix is able to properly curate its new resources, or whether the company simply continues the trend of slashing and cutting every corner to make the highest possible profit.