Netflix & Warner Brothers: 1) Paramount goes hostile in bid for Warner Bros. 2)What Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. means for the movies; 3)Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. studio and streaming business for $72 billion

1) Paramount goes hostile in bid for Warner Bros., challenging a $72 billion offer by Netflix

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press
By Michelle Chapman
Paramount on Monday launched a hostile takeover offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, initiating a potentially bruising battle with rival bidder Netflix to buy the company behind HBO, CNN and DC Studios, and the right to reshape much of the nation’s entertainment landscape.
Emerging just days after top Warner managers agreed to Netflix’s $72 billion purchase, Paramount’s bid seeks to go over the heads of those leaders by appealing directly to Warner shareholders with more money — $74.4 billion — and a plan to buy all of Warner’s business, including the cable business that Netflix does not want.

Paramount said its decision to go hostile came after it made several earlier bids that Warner management “never engaged meaningfully” with following the company’s October announcement that it was open to selling itself.

In its appeal to shareholders, Paramount noted its offer also contains more cash than Netflix’s bid — $18 billion more — and argued that it’s more likely to pass antitrust scrutiny from the Trump administration.
Netflix on Monday said it had no comment about Paramount’s challenge. But on Friday, Netflix downplayed concerns that regulators would oppose a combination of Netflix and Warner’s HBO Max streaming business. 

The fight for Warner drew strong reaction in Washington, with politicians from both major parties picking sides and citing the likely impact on streaming prices, movie theater employment and the diversity of entertainment choices and political views.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump weighed in, too, saying a Netflix-Warner combo “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share.
Paramount, run by David Ellison, whose family is closely allied with Trump, said it had submitted six proposals to Warner over a 12-week period before the latest offer.
“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry,” Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison said in a statement. He added that his deal would lead to more competition in the industry, not less, and more movies in theaters.

Adding to the political intrigue in the dueling bids, a regulatory document released Monday stated that an investment firm run by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would be investing in the Paramount deal, too.
On Friday, Netflix struck its deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max. The cash and stock proposal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.

The transaction is expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months, after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations. Not included in the deal are networks such as CNN and Discovery.

The federal government has authority to kill any big media deals if it has antitrust concerns. Trump has said he will be personally involved in the decision regarding Warner Bros.
Usha Haley, a Wichita State University professor who specializes in international business strategy, said Paramount’s ties to Trump are notable. Ellison is the son of longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest person.

“He said he’s going to be involved in the decision. We should take him at face value,” Haley said of Trump. “For him, it’s just greater control over the media.”

The bid for Warner Bros. comes on the heels of Paramount’s October purchase of the news and commentary website The Free Press. Paramount then installed the site’s founder, Bari Weiss, as the editor-in-chief of CBS News, saying it believes the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based.
It was a bold step for the television network of Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and “60 Minutes,” long viewed by many conservatives as the personification of a liberal media establishment. The network placed someone in a leadership role who has a reputation for resisting orthodoxy and fighting “woke” culture.

Paramount’s tender offer is set to expire on Jan. 8 unless it’s extended.
Shares of Warner Bros. jumped nearly 4%, and Netflix was down 4% Monday in early afternoon trading. Paramount was up 9%.
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Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky, David Bauder and Charles Sheehan in New York contributed to this report.

2)What Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. means for the movies

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Lindsey Bahr, December 7, 2025

Netflix’s deal to acquire Warner Bros., one of Hollywood’s oldest movie studios, poses seismic shifts to the entertainment industry and the future of moviegoing.

As one of the remaining “big five” studios, the 102-year-old Warner Bros. is an essential part of movie theater business.

The studio currently boasts three of the top five earning films domestically, including A Minecraft Movie, in first place, Superman and Sinners, as well as the Oscar frontrunner, One Battle After Another.

There are more questions than answers about how ownership from a streaming giant would change things for Warner Bros. It’s not even clear if it will pass antitrust scrutiny, or, if it does, what the details will look like.

Here are some things to know, and lingering questions, in the wake of the news.

Will Warner Bros. continue releasing movies in theaters?

Yes, but it might change as well. For starters, it’ll be at least 12 to 18 months before the deal officially goes through and moviegoers can expect essentially business as usual until then. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Friday that they will “continue to support” a “life cycle that starts in the movie theater” for Warner Bros. movies. But he also commented that he doesn’t think that “long exclusive windows” are consumer friendly.

With the rise of streaming, and especially in the pandemic era, studios experimented with different theatrical windows. For many years, a 90-day theatrical window was standard, but now it’s closer to 45 days and often a film-by-film decision.

Netflix and movie theaters

Netflix does release some films theatrically, but not usually more than a few weeks before they hit streaming. Sometimes that’s to qualify for awards eligibility, sometimes it’s a gesture to top filmmakers. This year those releases included Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite and Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly.

Major chains like AMC and Regal had refused to program Netflix releases until 2022, when enthusiasm for the “Knives Out” movie Glass Onion helped break the stalemate.

Earlier this year, KPop Demon Hunters unofficially topped the box office charts, earning nearly $20 million from a one-weekend run in theaters two full months after it debuted on the streamer.

Netflix also owns and operates several movie theaters, including the Paris Theater in New York and the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles.

Upcoming Warner Bros. movies

The studio has a diverse slate of films expected in 2026, with high profile titles including the Margot Robbie-led Wuthering Heights in February, Supergirl in June, Practical Magic 2 in September, Alejandro Iñárritu’s untitled Tom Cruise movie in October and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three in December.

Movies planned for 2027 include sequels to Superman, A Minecraft Movie and The Batman.

Earlier this year the company said its target was 12 to 14 releases annually across its four main labels, Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. animation.

What does it mean for movie theaters?

So much of this depends on the details, but Cinema United president and CEO Michael O’Leary said hours before the news broke that it posed “an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business.”

He added: “Regulators must look closely at the specifics of this proposed transaction and understand the negative impact it will have on consumers, exhibition and the entertainment industry.”

Theatrical exhibition has not fully recovered since the pandemic. Before 2020, the annual domestic box office regularly surpassed $11 billion. Since then it has only surpassed $9 billion once, in 2023, driven largely by Barbie, a Warner Bros. release.

How will top filmmakers react?

It’s too early to tell, but Warner Bros. has always prided itself on being one of the premier homes for top filmmakers, this year releasing films from Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler and James Gunn. Other longstanding relationships include Villeneuve, who has “Dune: Part Three” coming next year, Clint Eastwood and Todd Phillips. Much likely depends on whether robust theatrical releases will be honored — many of these filmmakers are vocal champions of the theatrical experience and may not stick around if it shifts.

The studio’s controversial decision to release films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in 2021 during the pandemic led to a rift with Christopher Nolan, who after making eight major films with the company, including the “Dark Knight” trilogy, partnered with Universal to make his next two films, Oppenheimer and next year’s The Odyssey.

Will HBO Max and Netflix become one service?

That’s also unclear. If the two platforms remain separate subscriptions, there may be “bundling” options, as with Disney and Hulu. Netflix on Friday said that the addition of HBO and HBO Max programming will give its members “even more high-quality titles from which to choose” and “optimize its plans for consumers.”

The Warner Bros. library of films includes classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane as well as the “Harry Potter” movies.

3)Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. studio and streaming business for $72 billion

Courtesy Barrie360.com, Canadian Press and The Associated Press

By Canadian Press, December 5, 2025

Netflix has struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, the legacy Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and Friends, to buy its studio and streaming business for $72 billion.

The acquisition, announced Friday, would bring two of the industry’s biggest players in film and TV under one roof and alter the entertainment industry landscape. Beyond its namesake television and motion picture division, Warner owns HBO Max and DC Studios. And Netflix is ubiquitous with on-demand content and has built its own production arm to release popular titles, including Stranger Things and Squid Game.

“For more than a century, Warner Bros. has thrilled audiences, captured the world’s attention, and shaped our culture,” David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement. “By coming together with Netflix, we will ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come.”

The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of approximately $82.7 billion. The transaction is expected to close after Warner separates its Discovery Global cable operations into a new publicly-traded company in the third quarter of 2026.

Shares of Warner Bros. rose nearly 3% in premarket trading while shares of Netflix and Paramount fell more than 2%.

Gaining Warner’s legacy studios would mark a notable shift for Netflix’s, particularly its presence in theaters. Under the proposed acquisition Netflix has promised to continue theatrical releases for Warner’s studio films — honoring Warner’s contractual agreements for movie releases.

Netflix has kept most of its original content within its core online platform. But there’s been few exceptions, such as limited theater screenings of a “KPop Demon Hunters” sing-a-long and its coming Stranger Things series finale.

“Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix said in a statement — adding that merging with Warner will “give audiences more of what they love.”

Critics say a Netflix-Warner combo could have negative consequences for movie theaters worldwide. Cinema United — a trade association that represents more than 30,000 movie screens in the U.S. and another 26,000 screens internationally — was quick to oppose the proposed deal, which it said “poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business.”

“Netflix’s stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. In fact, it is the opposite,” Michael O’Leary, CEO of Cinema United, said Friday — urging regulators to look closely at the impacts. “Theatres will close, communities will suffer, jobs will be lost.”

Netflix had previously steered away from tapping into other parts of the legacy entertainment landscape. As recently as October — when Warner signaled that it was open to a potential sale of its business — Netflix’s Sarandos reiterated on an earnings call that the company had been “very clear in the past that we have no interest in owning legacy media networks” and that there was “no change there.”

“We believe that we can be and we will be choosy,” Sarandos said at the time, without fully ruling out a potential bid for Warner.

Friday’s announcement arrives after a monthslong bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. Rumors of interest from Netflix, as well as NBC owner Comcast, starting bubbling up in the fall. But Skydance-owned Paramount, which completed its own $8 billion merger in August, had also reportedly made several all-cash offers backed heavily by CEO David Ellison’s family.

Paramount seemed like the frontrunner for some time — and unlike Netflix or Comcast, was reportedly vying to buy Warner’s entire company, including its cable business housing networks like CNN and Discovery.

Warner announced its intention to split its streaming and studio operations from its cable business in June — outlining plans for HBO, HBO Max, as well as Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, to become part of a new streaming and studios company.

Meanwhile, networks like CNN, Discovery and TNT Sports and digital products such as the Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report would make up a separate cable counterpart.

The Netflix acquisition of Warner’s streaming and studio arm is expected to close in 12 to 18 months — after the company wraps up the spinoff of its cable business. That is now expected in the third quarter of 2026.

The merger has already received approval from shareholders of both Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, but it faces significant regulatory hurdles.

The size of the transaction could draw antitrust scrutiny. Beyond TV and movie production, the merger would bring two of the streaming world’s biggest names — Netflix and HBO Max — under the same roof.