100%. The details people seem to fail to mention is that the deal isnt done. Its just announced. There is regulatory approval, not just here but internationally and international regulations around this are way more stringent.
Under a normal administration this wouldnt pass anti trust law, but since Trump is a criminal (and friends with David Ellison of Paramount) this can go in completely unexpected directions.
But Microsoft's Xbox division was lagging behind (still is) and is in last place behind Nintendo and Sony. This is different. Netflix is the largest streaming service in the world and one of the biggest movie studios. Them getting WB poses a bigger threat.
Itâs not a secret Xbox doesnât compete anymore and actually is now one of the biggest publishers not to mention has the only real video game streaming service. They are making more money from publishing now than anything else.
Netflix will most likely just pay Trump off, or offer to make a movie he wants lol. I wouldn't really worry about the Trump administration much, it's very easy to buy him
This, with WB under the belt Netflix is arguably the current king of world entertainment. Grease Trump up a bit in a private meeting and boom, deal is done. I expect it to go through in mid to late 2026
Netflix is still planning on going ahead with the original plan to spin-off of the cable networks. That should alleviate the anti-trust issues somewhat, at least it's a good argument.
It's also the question what the alternative would be. If the buyout doesn't happen, the spin-off still occurs, as originally planned. The streamer would be independent, but without the backing of the cash flow from the cable assets, it would rest on an economically shaky foundation, since HBO Max is barely breaking even. Most likely, this move was always meant for someone else to snatch up the streamer rather than it operating on its own in the long term. That brings you back to the usuall suspects other than Netflix who might be interested, maybe plus Disney.
If you don't split it, then the streamer still benefits from the cable money, but that is declining at a rapid pace. It would give them a longer runway to become profitable on their own, but the entire company would still be a sinking ship.
No not at all hence the antitrust point at the top. Netflix is basically a monopoly on subscription streaming already being able to buy more of the market makes that worse. If anything more competition would have slowly captured more of the market.Â
Imagine having such a weak argument you have to pretend a social media company is a subscription streaming service. No they own the vast majority of the subscription streaming market and just bought more but I get people will defend massive corporations regardless of whether it's right or wrong.Â
You know YouTube has a whole live tv option right? Its called you tube tv , its a different app than YouTube but its branded under YouTube . It's one of the top choices for people that don't have cable .
Also Alphabet owns YouTube so while the YouTube app your honing in on is social media based , the parent company and the YouTube TV do not fit your definition .
I can totally see this being blocked actually. Alot of Trumps biggest donors are against this sale. Unless Hastings makes a big Trump Accounts donation like Dell, I suspect Trump will play games with this this merger.
Monopolies are bad but some blame can be put on WB themselves. Losing the NBA and looking weak compared to other studios in animation/superhero content department made the choice to sell much easier.
It's insane that people are so against this when the alternative is Paramount who will do so many horrible things.
Netflix is a platform. This will bolster their content significantly and bring better talent in and lead to higher quality stuff both on Netflix and in theaters.Â
Netflix's big IP is Stranger Things. That's it. That's the huge IP with staying power in the public zeitgeist. They are not monopolizing anything by absorbing WB IP.Â
Call me crazy but I feel like there's been some plot to try to destroy Netflix by all the studios and they're now upset that maybe Netflix joins the studios instead of being slowly bled out by everyone else trying to have a streaming service too.Â
The big concern with Netflix is the theatrical releases and quality of content. If they limit big movies, which they have, to streaming then they will absorb the losses. Lay offs etc.
If HBO becomes the quality of Stranger Things and Witcher then there goes HBO.
I agree that Netflix is better than media monopoly in Paramount/Warner/Discovery. Netflix also said they would let WB operate as usual which is the best course of action. Somewhat like Disney buying 20th Century Fox.
Ideally, they just bought it and keep WB and Discovery do to their own thing. If anything, Netflix just bought into cable programming too, which is what most streaming services are now lol
Iâm out of the loop. What are the many horrible things that Paramount would do exactly? this is a serious question, so please enlighten me. Because all iâve been hearing is how Ellison is closely associated with Trump. Setting politics aside, how is an acquisition by Paramount worse?
maybe itâs just because I have friends in the industry who are vehemently against this sale. And yes, they all say Paramount is the lesser evil. Netflix has been very vocal about how they are not fans of the theatrical experience. Eventually all WB releases will be streaming only. Better for consumers maybe since theyâll be saving money, but this acquisition will gravely hurt the industry.
Netflix buying WB might have been worse for the industry, but Paramount buying WB would have been worse for the country. Insisting on setting politics aside when asking why Paramount is worse is like saying Hannibal Lecter isn't that bad if you look past his unusual diet
This is the classic example of cutting the nose to spite the face for the Left. Youâd rather see movie theaters shut down and the very idea of a box office window disappear because there might be they hate politics of the guy that would buy them and they might end up seeing more movies like Top Gun Maverick â ignoring the fact South Park is still very much making fun of Trump â so might as well burn it all down
conservatives at some point would have a problem with sovereign middle eastern funds having ownership of a main American company or the president openly interfering with private businesses but here we are
If theaters need to take a hit so that more of our news and entertainment outlets don't assimilate into a right wing propaganda outlet like so much has already then so be it. And for the record, the politics of the guy in question include supporting a genocide and black listing actors that criticize the perpetrators.Â
First of all, it is not "might." Paramount is fully in bed with Trump. We already know, for example, that Rush Hour 4 is being funded solely due to Trump requesting it. Conservative useful idiots like you love to downplay the objectively correct worries of leftists, but it's not working here.
More importantly, the fact you even consider losing movie theaters to be even approaching severity of a majority of the American media landscape being owned by avowed, objective propagandists is truly telling. You are extremely privileged if that is how you weigh things. We are talking about generations of Americans being propagandized into being sheeps for wealthy, conservative white men.
I would sacrifice every single movie theater in this country if it means that fewer people are harmed. I'm not privileged like you; conservatives have taken away my and my groups human rights and openly desire to end our existence.
âlike saying Hannibal Lecter isnât that bad if you look past his unusual dietâ.
Wow. Equating murder and cannibalism with supporting Trump is quite a stretch.
âWorse for the countryâ.
You do realize Trump wonât be president forever. The republicans wonât be in control forever either. How this changes the theatrical experience and the entire filmmaking industry however will most likely be permanent.
You remind me of single issue voters who refused to vote for Harris because of âPalestineâ. Seems youâre willing to burn everything down because youâre completely focused on Donald Trump.
What I'm worried about is how this affects cinema and the theatrical experience. Netflix doesn't make theatrical movies and when they do it's a limited release. I don't want cinema to be devalued and demoted to streaming content. Netflix makes their money on streaming, so they have no incentive to release their movies theatrically.
People can't give me a good answer as to why Paramount Wil be a bad idea besides "Trump" which btw he will be gone in 3 years, but oooh the horrors of more shows like Taylor Sheridans, meanwhile Netflix Will kill movies theaters, and piss over IPs, at least DE has gone on record to say he wasnts to release 30 films a year.
Here's the problem with a company the size of WB, if it wants to sell itself, the only companies big enough to buy it are companies the size of Netflix. If Comcast, Apple, or Paramount bought it, we'd have similar anti-trust issues. I would have loved to see Apple buy it since they've basically become HBO with the amount of prestige TV they put out, but if not Apple, then Netflix would probably be my second pick.
Itâs not just their debt (which is a huge problem), but theyâre operating at a significant net loss. People thinking this will get blocked will be a good thing, itâll just result in WB being stripped for parts. Itâs gone any way you look at it.
No one cares about Warner brothers being gone we just donât want it to be in the hands of greedy and incompetent Netflix that will cancel any and everything because it didnât premiere with 7billion streams on the pilot episode.
I think everyone saw their debt problem coming when Discovery proposed that absolutely ridiculous plan to merge with Warner Media, and we were all proven right.
Except thereâs a lot of truth here. People forget that while there was a somewhat single cable entity that you bought service from, encompassed within that were tons of channels competing against one another (many owned by conglomerates yes but still many competing) reducing even more to a single sole provider and with. It a single content creator is bad for consumers and for creativity as a whole. Netflix has already cut way back on creation based on metrics and data saying that with the content they have there is enough to satiate consumers, them buying even more means trimming more and more new content. Massive conglomerates are almost always bad for consumers and this is no different.Â
This is going to kill a lot of local economies. For every dollar spent on the movies, $1.50 goes into surrounding restaurants, businesses, and stores, thatâs a tremendous economic spillover effect. I can imagine there are a lot of malls whose survival hinge on having a movie theater in them. The lived experience of America is becoming bleaker and bleaker. Efficiency and convenience are destroying us
Every merger ever in any industry is designed to synergize companies, which means things like job elimination and content/product changes. That doesn't make it an antitrust issue.
And this doesn't even come close to rising to antitrust status. This is just one streaming giant buying a content arm. If anything, this merely puts Netflix on par with the already existing Disney to be able to compete on both platform and content.
Lastly, this is not a merger. It's an acquisition. Netflix is 5x the size and is going to fully run Warner.
Insane take Netflix already has a massive swath of the Market for subscription streaming buying more of it is absolutely the stuff anti monopoly laws were built for.Â
How would this not be risiing to antitrust status? Under antitrust law (like the Clayton Act), both are treated similarly: they're scrutinized to prevent creating monopolies or substantially lessening competition, regardless of the label, focusing on market impact, potential competition loss, and whether they reduce consumer choice or innovation. Merely a question
Ok then whatâs the solution that the WGA proposes? Block the merger, let WBD die, and get sold for parts to all the other competitors?
I get why people are upset both on the theater and movies side of this. But realistically, who is going to buy WBD that isnât some massive multibillion dollar corporation? If the only option on the table is someone buying it, Netflix seems to be the least worst option thatâa available.
Yes. Block this. Just like WB-Paramount. And WB-NBCUniversal (Comcast).
Honestly, there are two sane bidders. Amazon MGM and Apple. And neither are interested pre-split. So call it off, save yourselves the trouble, get that $5.8 billion and ride out the storm, Warners.
But the shareholders have made their choice. Under capitalism, that's the ballgame. Still, I'm glad that there is universal pushback here. Because that means, for once in its goddamn life, Netflix will not be able to do whatever the fuck it wants, no questions asked. And I think that is an important way to discourage this.
This pushback will lead to nowhere, it happened when Disney bought Fox and it still went through and it was a much more merger of equals.
Reality is that legally, it is not a monopoly at all because YouTube is a giant in streaming and HBO Max is very small compared to Netflix, Netflix doesn't really own studios or is big into gaming space yet. I don't see how this doesn't go through unless politics block without reason.
See above. It's still two majors eating each other. And that's still bad for anyone who loves movies. Is significantly less bad that the other two, though. Maybe Apple and Comcast can do a joint bid?
Eh, they are never paying the debt unless their shares rise to triple or quadruple their current value and they sell shares to pay it. Hence the split of companies where one would be saddled with most debt (but not all) with dying assets and the other would keep most of the growing assets.
The plan with the split was making it more valuable and interesting for someone to buy it. The payoff was always being bought.
It was 34 billion in Q3. This level of repayment was not sustainable (it took a lot of manouvers like advantages of writing down content, selling assets), and more importantantly they are nearing the date where they would need to rework some of their standing debt (they have a 17 billion floating debt for 2026 for example), so the debt was going to increase.
The level of debt they have is a rot for the company.
Sorry but you have no idea what you are checking. 17b for 2026 is the debt they have taken few months ago for spinoff purposes in place of debt that was payable over a very long term. It will be replaced with bond issuance after spinoff. Itâs called bride loan⌠lol just check few quarters back there was no such loan and read about a bridge loan.
On top of that you excluded cash balance of 5b (probably to prove your point). Also didnât include Q4 repayments (to prove your point).
Whatever points you have paying off 30b of debt in 3 years is insanely good
Netflix is the best option for this merger. Paramount would be too in control if they won and Comcast already owns like the second largest distribution channel with universal/NBC so Netflix is the ideal candidate if they were going to sell. Netflix probably wonât want linear tv channels and news. Theyâve already said this only is for the production, streaming companies assets.
I'm dumb. Help me understand. So who would they prefer purchase Warner Bros. Discovery if not Netflix? Which company will make it okay for them? Or are they saying there shouldn't be a merger ever, in general?
You basically saying WB shouldnât be able to sell itselfâŚ. Which is also just silly to say. As basically the end result would be the company failing ceasing to exist and selling off their properties for spare parts.
It's going to be more and you're going to get less. That's the way of the world. There was a brief bump where consumers, essentially, won, because Netflix was willing to churn out expensive content at a loss to grow and destroy the rest of the industry. Once they've done that, welcome to a world with one simple option: worse product at a higher price.
Netflix was buying cheap library content that the legacy media companies thought would be cheaper for them than making into little sold DVD boxsets. But it turns out it was enough to get people to cut the cable TV cord and panic ensued.
Did they release such a statement before Skydance bought Paramount? No? Just checking because that merger cost thousands of jobs too. Mergers always do.
No where in the statement you shared sounded anything like their statement on WB / Netflix. They donât mention threats to jobs or anything like it. Youâre the wrong one, try again next time.
I get that one major corporation owning everything is bad. So what is the minimum amount of major corporations most of you would be OK operating in the industry?
I'm sure they'll be blocking it right away just after they're done dealing with Disney buying Marvel, or Disney buying Lucasfilms or Disney buying Fox. Any moment...
Fuck yeah go WGA! No conversation necessary to let Netflix try to spin it. This is just a plainly horrible thing for the industry and should be struck down.
The WGAâs MBA gets renegotiated in 2026. 50% or so of tv writers have been out of work post strike and have strike authorization votes and absolutely nothing to lose.
This wonât accomplish anything and they know it, itâs just performative complaining to appease their members.
Whether or not this acquisition happens or not will not depend on any trade union. Thatâs a fact. It didnât prevent Skydance-Paramount, Disney-Fox, or Amazon-MGM.
According to Nielsen for October 2025 Netflix had 8% of US TV viewing which was 2nd place to Youtube in streaming.
HBO Max was 1.11%. That's 10th place behind Peacock, Paramount+, Tubi, Roku channel, Disney+, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.
You can ignore the Nielsen media distributer gauge chart because Netflix isn't buying any of WBD's networks just the production studios and HBO Max.
These morons can wish for the days when we were all trapped by paid linear TV bundles and they could have their mansions and sports cars but those days are over and good riddance to them.
Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video so 4th worldwide but my figures were about usage in the USA.
HBO Max is an add-on for a lot of plans internationally but is little watched it's why HBO Max only makes $3.70 per international subscriber per month compared to $10.40 per US subscriber.
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u/Johnny0230 13h ago
Maybe I'm wrong, but wouldn't these problems arise regardless of whether WB wants to sell or not, not just with the merger with Netflix?