According to a report by TheWrap and now Netflix itself, Netflix is now entering exclusive talks to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, having outbid other competitors for the Batman-owning megacorp. If the deal goes through, said to be at over $27 a share, it would mean the streaming giant would own everything from HBO to DC comics, including all your favorite Lego and Batman games.
Warner Bros. boss David Zaslav has been making it clear he wants to sell the company for a good while now, but holding out for a big exit. In October this year he turned down a bid from Paramount said to be at $20 a share, with Bloomberg claiming the CEO was holding out for 50 percent higher. That valuation seemed crazy, and it was assumed that Paramount came in much lower to test the waters, with the expectation of either a $25 per share bid to follow, or more hostile takeover moves. However, instead, it seems Netflix has swooped in close enough to that $30 offer, working out to a price of $82.7 billion, and thus won the war. Should things go to Netflix and Warners’ plans, the purchase should be complete by the end of 2026.
What are the implications of this deal?
If the deal goes through, this would mean streaming giant Netflix would own one of its big rivals, HBO Max, and presumably look to merge the two services. It would also own Warner’s entire movie business including New Line Cinema, all of DC Entertainement, the Discovery network of channels, and multiple networks like CNN, TBS, TNT and the Cartoon Network. And, of course, Warner Bros. Games.
In a normal universe, this would be the sort of deal that would be tangled in monopolistic concerns for years to come, as people questioned the unparalleled power this could offer Netflix over multiple industries. However, given other recent mergers that have taken place after, um, payments made to the Trump orbit, what might happen is anyone’s guess. However, earlier talk last month of the potential deal between Netflix and Warner resulted in antitrust concerns being raised, and certainly there will be a lot of fight from those concerned how the deal could affect Hollywood.
Yet, at the same time, Paramount was allowed to merge with Skydance and Disney was allowed to buy Fox, so Netflix has plenty of precedent to argue from. As it happens, it could be Paramount that objects the loudest to the Netflix deal, given how it and so many others had assumed it would get Warner eventually, and the company is already questioning the “fairness and adequacy” of the process. A Paramount attorney wrote, “It has become increasingly clear, through media reporting and otherwise, that WBD appears to have abandoned the semblance and reality of a fair transaction process, thereby abdicating its duties to stockholders, and embarked on a myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder.”
A messy breakup for gaming?
The Netflix deal also makes another aspect of Warner Bros. Discovery more interesting. Zaslav had appeared determined to break up the company such that its linear cable channel businesses would be separated from the rest, and then that loss-making sector take all the company’s debt with it. Because that’s legal I guess. This is something Paramount was trying to prevent with its purchase attempt, however, according to a press release put out by Netflix, the intention is to buy Warner Bros. after Zaslav’s division, seeing the profitless cable channels become a new company called Discovery Global and not be part of the sale.
Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the press release,
“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. Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”
At the same time, the deal could be very concerning for games players, given Netflix’s very clear backward step from anything other than mobile gaming. Its owning the studios that develop the Arkham and Lego games could mean bad times for console players if the pattern continues.
There’s obviously a lot of fighting to come, and presumably some hefty legal challenges from those who feel dropped at the altar, let alone the antitrust maneuvers. But given [broad sweeping gesture], it won’t be in the least bit surprising to see it happening sooner rather than later.
Updated: 12/05/2025, 8:35 a.m. ET: Updated the post above to add details from Netflix’s press release, including the money involved.
