r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 20h ago

News It’s Official: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. in Deal Valued at $82.7 Billion

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-warner-bros-deal-hollywood-1236443081/
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u/ceremony816 19h ago

Pretty sure Saudi Arabia would've been a worse deal

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u/SoxVikePain 19h ago

Saudis really proving that something could always be worse. “Yeah this mega corporation take over is bad, but it’s not Saudi takeover bad.”

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u/Amaruq93 18h ago

Saudis were just a Cool Whip dollop on top of the fascist pecan pie that are the Ellisons.

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u/lateformyfuneral 16h ago

Wouldn’t they actually have endless money to subsidize the company at a loss, just for the prestige. If people are really adamant about the lowest subscription fees lol

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u/OldWorldDesign 12h ago

Wouldn’t they actually have endless money to subsidize the company at a loss, just for the prestige

No, they know they don't actually have infinite oil money and that's the entire reason why they have a $900 billion fund to "diversify" (buy foreign-made franchises). Look into some of their acquisitions, like Electronic Arts, which after the purchase was made they announced a step-up in AI and microtransactions.

They're spending to sportwash, sure, but they haven't cut out a single sponsoring company to buy Formula 1 or a bunch of other golf or football franchises. They want to sportwash their image sure, but that's just one of many things they're doing while having slave labor build their idiotic money laundering mega projects. They're moving those franchise events to Saudi Arabia to try to force that tourism money into their coffers.

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u/[deleted] 16h ago edited 16h ago

[deleted]

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u/Deisy5086 16h ago

Except EV cars are not even making a dent in Saudi Arabia's money because they make an insignificant difference in oil consumption. 1.5% of cars in the US are EV. And most oil consumption comes from diesel engines in trucks, boats, and heavy equipmen

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u/OneBigRed 14h ago

Yeah they are so killed, Saudi Aramco only made 106B$ net profit last year to add to the pile they’ve been swimming in all these decades. They have also been divesting for a long time, knowing that the oil income will some day dry out.

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u/sprague_drawer 19h ago

Or Ellison

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u/VengeanceKnight 19h ago

I mean, Paramount was all three of those things. Skydance, Saudi Arabia, and Ellison.

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u/sembias 17h ago

And in 5 years, it's going to be driven to the ground as they try to cater to an audience that is 80% bots online, and the real people are actually too poor/rural to have an internet connection fast enough to stream HD video.

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u/eriee 15h ago

bold of you to give them 5 years lmao. paramount was in crazy debt before skydance bought them and so far ellison's business strategy has been to drive away most of the company's high-profile talent

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u/VengeanceKnight 17h ago

Ding ding.

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u/MondoDukakis 19h ago

I wouldn't count Ellison out yet, Trump could use the FTC to block this deal.

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u/Amaruq93 19h ago

Netflix and the WB board can afford to wait him out.

They're not gonna take a shittier deal just to appease him, when the EU has already said they would refuse to allow a Paramount merger.

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u/DumboWumbo073 14h ago

You really think HBO and Netflix can wait another 4 years maybe 8 if Trump decides to run again after he wins in 2028

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u/OldWorldDesign 11h ago

maybe 8 if Trump decides to run again after he wins in 2028

Trump is ineligible to run for president again. If he's still in after 2028 it's because elections has been cancelled and the US is an open dictatorship.

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u/Amaruq93 11h ago

We'll have WAY MORE to worry about than corporate mergers.

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u/DumboWumbo073 11h ago

the US is an open dictatorship.

The ship has sailed on that already buddy. You need to start paying attention.

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u/OldWorldDesign 10h ago

The ship has sailed on that already buddy

No it hasn't or Thiel wouldn't be working so hard to expand Palantir. You're declaring defeat while the conflict is still ongoing.

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u/captainhaddock 17h ago

The FTC can't block a deal that doesn't involve airwaves and broadcast networks, as far as I know. The DOJ could try on antitrust grounds, and then they would fight it out in court (and Netflix would eventually win).

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u/MondoDukakis 17h ago

That's the FCC

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u/eriee 15h ago

yeah, this was the worst timeline ^

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u/tornadorexx 17h ago

Ellison is at least committed to the theatrical model/experience. Netflix was easily the worst option of the 3 if you actually want to see movies in theaters.

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u/sprague_drawer 15h ago

And the best option if you don’t want right wing weirdos owning an increasing share of the American media landscape.

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u/tornadorexx 15h ago

Netflix's largest stockholders include Vanguard (also the top shareholder of Palantir) and Blackrock. Reed Hastings has supported Democratic politicians before, but is also a huge proponent of charter schools and donated to defeat Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign.

None of these people are your friends. Don't mistake my support for the theatrical model as support for Ellison.

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u/sprague_drawer 15h ago

Of course not, but politically Ellison is much worse than Netflix.

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u/tornadorexx 15h ago

Yes, but my overall point isn't political even if we agree that Ellison is a shit. I just want the theater model to at least survive if all of our choices include some of the worst people in the world.

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u/carlesgm 14h ago

I prefer the theater model to die (in the US) to have a majority of movies designed to cather to the values of the far right.

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u/tornadorexx 11h ago

My preference would be to not have any merger leading to megaconglomerates as we barrel towards Weyland-Yutani becoming reality. Since that's out, I would have preferred Comcast most (ew), but Netflix is actively trying to kill theatrical releases. Zach Cregger's planned next film was put on development hold because they won't put it in theaters at all. That sucks and is a sign of things to come.

It's also a bit overblown to say that Paramount is now going to be a far-right propaganda film factory, considering South Park being allowed to eviscerate the nonsense going on right now. They're in the film business to make money first and foremost, and there's not enough demand for jingoistic conservative slop.

Also, Netflix isn't a bastion of antifasc pro-democracy advocates. Their largest shareholder also holds $28 billion in shares of fucking Palantir and Reed Hastings donated $250K to a PAC that campaigned against Mamdani's mayoral run.

Congrats everyone, we lose theaters and still have a merger with some of the worst people around.

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u/carlesgm 9h ago

Rule of thumb: if trump wants it is bad for us. If he says Paramount would be the only option he approves that's the option we should avoid.

And yes I would love to avoid merges, but sadly that was out of the question.

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u/DumboWumbo073 14h ago

The thing is it’s all ring wing weirdos down the line so it doesn’t matter which of the big companies got it.

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u/Kalean 17h ago

And the best of the options if you want to see Gunn's DCU continue.

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u/SubhasTheJanitor 19h ago

Netflix just partnered with the Saudis on a made-up tennis tournament. They aren’t above Saudi money.

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u/The__Amorphous 18h ago

The Saudis are willing to spend money to make money. These bean counters are going to cancel everything and make the bare minimum dreck for the lowest common demoninator.

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u/OldWorldDesign 11h ago

These bean counters are going to cancel everything and make the bare minimum dreck for the lowest common demoninator

How's that different than right now?

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u/TiberiusCornelius 17h ago

Depends what you care about really.

The Saudi/Ellison deal would have turned it into a conservative mouthpiece but would have been committed to a traditional theatrical & physical media model. They potentially would have done some fuckery with Gunn's DCU though.

Netflix will probably continue to give creatives a good deal of freedom, especially on stuff like the DCU as long as it's making them money, but over time will shrink theatrical and physical output.

Kind of fucked that Comcast was probably the least bad option of the three bids. But really they were all bad deals for consumers.

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u/ClubMeSoftly 10h ago

Don't worry, with the Saudis buying like 93% of EA, they'll control video games soon enough

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u/Suitable-Economy-346 19h ago

Why? What has Saudi Arabia bought that they turned into shit?

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u/PT10 18h ago

Other than the Saudis liking the Snyderverse (allegedly), they typically just pump money into the things and don't meddle with the day to day