A $82.7 billion announcement on Friday, December 5, finalized Netflix’s deal to acquire one of the most renowned and influential conglomerates in Hollywood.
Amidst the thriving success of a final season of Stranger Things and the release of K-Pop Demon Hunters, Netflix led a weeks-long bidding war to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery. The winning conditions? $27.75 a share for WBD along with a $5 billion to combat Paramount’s rival offers.
The purchase is far more than a nominal development—access to Warner Bros. includes its production studios, HBO Max, and HBO. This expansion offers Netflix intellectual property as recognizable as The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, DC Studios, Harry Potter, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, and Hanna Barbera (which we have to thank for Scooby Doo and The Flintstones).
In the past ten years, Hollywood has been no stranger to these large-scale purchases. In 2022, Amazon’s $8.5 billion purchase of MGM forfeited the James Bond and Rocky franchises to the retail superpower. On a larger scale, Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox vastly expanded the company’s repertoire for $71.3 billion.
Netflix’s purchase, however, is special. Although Netflix’s market cap is $237.96 billion more than Disney’s, Netflix isn’t regarded as much of a movie studio. Rather, they’re traditionally viewed as a “production/distribution” like AMC or Apple Studios. This acquisition, though, places the streaming service in control of one of the “Big Five” production studios—cementing its presence in Hollywood as a film giant.
This drastic transaction is expected by Netflix and WBD to occur around November 2026, with the close of WBD’s third quarter. But a statement by President Trump complicates things.
Trump, on Sunday, December 7, stated that the acquisition “could be a problem.” The president’s concern is one shared by many: that this purchase could result in too great a market share for Netflix. He insists on being involved in the approval process, with the advising of several economists.
Other politicians have spoken out against the monopolistic nature the purchase could imply. Utah Senator Mike Lee (R), chairman of the Senate’s antitrust committee insists that a congressional hearing is “almost certain.” Elizabeth Warren (D), Massachusetts Senator, similarly referred to the development as an “antitrust nightmare.”
Besides the explicit monopolistic risks of this purchase, an extensive history of unpopular acquisitions haunts Hollywood. Disney’s infamous purchase of Lucasfilm frustrated countless Star Wars fans, citing this change as an explanation for a stylistic loss and Rise of Skywalker’s critical failure.
Despite these concerns, Paramount Pictures announced its own means of creating “a stronger Hollywood”– their $30/share hostile bid, announced just two days after Warner Bros. claimed to have solidified the deal. This last minute Hail Mary proposal values the company at around $108 billion.
But in spite of this gambit, Netflix’s deal has seemed intact, and officials eagerly await the acquisition of the moviemaking behemoth.
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