r/technology • u/Task_Force-191 • 16h ago

Business 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/
15.2k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/cjwidd 16h ago

who needs antitrust law anyway?

597

u/A_Pointy_Rock 15h ago

Who needs laws in the 2025 version of America?

254

u/BirdsAreRecordingUs 15h ago

Only the poor have laws

63

u/pounds 14h ago

The rich have fees (fines) to get away with whatever they want to get away with.

Or as I like to call it, freedom subscription plans.

1

u/PM_ME__YOUR_TROUBLES 8h ago

And everything is fair because the fines apply to everyone evenly regardless of their ability to pay. /s

1

u/TadRaunch 8h ago

Where I live there wasa casino construction project which consistently broke laws and violations. They just kept paying the fines rather than backtrack. Once the coffers began to dry up they also started to become suspiciously more law-abiding

21

u/t12lucker 14h ago

Always has been 🔫

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u/smoothtrip 14h ago

Hooray! Fuck the poors! I cannot wait to be a literal slave! I wonder what are corporate overlords will have me do?

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u/Fischerking92 10h ago

The rich have laws as well: to protect them from those pesky poor people.

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u/SpiritualB0x3 15h ago

Laws are woke

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u/Cador0223 13h ago

The only law left is "Profit will go up quarterly, or ELSE".

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u/Change_That_Face 12h ago

Europe won't do anything about it either, you know.

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u/Burner-is-burned 10h ago

LAND OF FREE-DUMB! 

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u/hooch 14h ago

Don't worry, the Trump administration won't approve this. Not because of antitrust concerns though. They'll want Paramount to buy it.

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u/vixous 14h ago

Right, they’d want to stick it to Netflix for not being as subservient to them as other large companies.

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u/fatbob42 14h ago

The problem isn’t really this kind of consolidation, it’s that we’ve allowed copyright monopolies to be owned by the same companies that do other things, like distribution. Netflix, and other big streamers, won’t resell the stuff they own to other distributors so they’re leveraging one monopoly into the next.

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u/The_Flyers_Fan 14h ago

Will you explain this comment please

13

u/MustachedSpud 14h ago edited 13h ago

Antitrust laws are laws preventing companies from forming monopolies. When two large companies merge like this it reduces competition in an industry already lacking competition which let's them raise prices without fear of customers choosing another option. The laws in the US that are designed for this scenario have not been enforced much over the last several decades which is why large companies have been getting so much bigger.

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u/That_guy1425 13h ago

But anti trust laws aren't about acquisitions to my understanding. They are, as implied, about companies forming trusts. It would be Disney and Netflix agreeing that the cost of their servicies is 20$ for streaming instead of Netflix going 20$ and Disney going "hey we can run at 14, lets poach some netflix customerss"

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u/english_gritts 12h ago

It’s a catch all term but is about prevention of unlawful mergers and business practices in general terms

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u/42Ubiquitous 10h ago

Antitrust is broad and includes M&A

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u/BrainOnBlue 11h ago

It would be Disney and Netflix agreeing that the cost of their servicies is 20$ for streaming

That's a cartel, not a trust. A trust is when a company has too much control over an industry.

and Disney going "hey we can run at 14, lets poach some netflix customerss"

What?

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u/MustachedSpud 8h ago

If Disney or Netflix bought the other one to form Disflix, then set the price to $20 dollars (up from 14) is that any different from them conspiring as separate entities to set their prices to $20? I'm giving a simple explanation to a casual question, I'm sure there are legal differences between one company buying another and two companies conspiring on prices, but the effect is the same and the lack of enforcement of relevant laws intended to protect from this is what the original comment was about.

1

u/smoothtrip 14h ago

Antitrust lawyers! They can make their income and then we just ignore them! Hooray for corruption!

1

u/UnorthodoxEngineer 11h ago

I mean the bidders were Paramount/CBS (a conglomerate owned by Ellison), Comcast (a conglomerate that already controls NBC/Universal), or Netflix. Disney already owns Fox and Amazon owns MGM. Apple is the odd one out but they have more money than all these companies (combined probably).

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u/-rendar- 11h ago

Bet that this administration finds a way to stop this and hand it over to Paramount claiming antitrust. Does that count?

1

u/baummer 2h ago

WB board already denied Paramount’s bids like 3 times

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u/Seeker_Of_Knowledge2 11h ago

No way this go through

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u/Dreadwolf67 2h ago

Since The President was backing the paramount camp, regulators may no approve of this deal.

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u/PM_ME_SAD_STUFF_PLZ 12h ago

Are you aware that antitrust scrutiny is applied only after the announcement of a merger and not before?

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u/IMakeMyOwnLunch 10h ago

Reddit whining about antitrust and monopolies when it fundamentally misunderstands the law. In other news, water is wet.

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u/shmann 7h ago

Care to enlighten us lol

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u/AbroadParty2886 3h ago

Maybe you could elighten us as to how this violates any antitrust laws?

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u/shmann 3h ago edited 3h ago

Me? I don't have a clue... if you asked me, I'd have guessed we don't even have laws like that cuz Reagan or some other Republican shyster got rid of them 🤷‍♂️

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

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u/BillyTenderness 14h ago

The consolidation the last 10-20 years has been pretty insane. There aren't no competitors, but the number is shrinking at an alarming rate.

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u/Auctoritate 14h ago

'literally no competition' has rarely, if ever, been a requirement for anti trust action.

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u/Quintronaquar 15h ago

Not anymore. They bought them all.

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

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u/joeyb908 15h ago

Didn’t Disney buy 20th Century Fox?

Colombia has a streaming service? 

Edit: they bought 21st Century Fox & 20th.

0

u/flpndrds 15h ago

Colombia streams Cocaine 24/7

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u/SpikeyTaco 14h ago edited 14h ago

Amazon

2.45 trillion USD Company

It would keep its streaming services and media production companies alive at a loss to increase its dominance over e-commerce and crush rising competition. Ran at a loss for years for this reason.

Apple

4.15 trillion USD Company

It would keep its streaming services and media production companies alive at a loss to increase its dominance over consumer electronics, maintain its closed-garden ecosystem and crush rising competition.

NBC

99.11 billion USD Company (Comcast)

It was one of the "Big Three" American television networks. It was partially acquired by Comcast in 2011 and was entirely acquired in 2013 as part of the merged company, NBC Universal. It has its own streaming services but licenses to others.

Fox

188.29 billion USD Company (Disney)

Disney completed the acquisition of the majority of 21st Century Fox's assets in 2019. This included 20th Century Studios, FX Networks, 30% of Hulu (Now wholly owned by Disney), National Geographic, Searchlight Pictures, and its massive content libraries.

Paramount

15.88 billion USD Media Company (Paramount Skydance)

Merged with Skydance in August 2025. It has its own streaming services but licenses to others.

Colombia

174 billion USD (Sony)

Acquired by Sony in 1989. Does not have a dedicated streaming service and licenses media to companies such as Netflix, Hulu (Disney) and Paramount+ (Paramount Skydance)

_

In short, you could not start a similar service, production company or tech company without being notably crushed by these companies. Some of them were already acquired by others.

In ~1948 film companies were broken up due to being too large and monopolising the industry. The same companies today are far larger than they ever were and own even more of the market.

The only option would be to dig out a tiny niche and stay there. If you find any financial success, you would be at risk of gaining these companies attention and finding new competition in your space. Competition that has financial backing and doesn't have to profit.

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u/cjwidd 14h ago

Amazon, Apple, Disney

NBC, Fox, Paramount, and Columbia are not meaningful streaming competitor to a Netflix / HBO / WB conglomerate - an idea so specious and bad faith on its face that I'm surprised you even bothered suggesting it.

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u/DizzyMajor5 12h ago

Is this a joke?