"The deal will see Netflix acquire Warner Bros. Discovery's film and TV studios and its streaming operations, including HBO Max, in a deal with an equity value of roughly $72 billion, or about $27.75 per share in cash and stock, valuing Warner Bros. at $82.7 billion. The agreement followed a heated auction in which Netflix's bid edged out offers from Paramount Skydance and Comcast, both of which had pushed to keep the storied Warner assets in more traditional hands."
"Two days before Netflix won the bidding, Paramount hinted at its fury with a strongly worded letter to WBD CEO David Zaslav, arguing the process was "tainted" and Warner Bros. was favoring a single bidder: Netflix. Paramount called it a "myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder," Bloomberg reported, although Netflix's bid is understood to be the highest of the three."
"Another angry group is theater owners, who have famously warred with Netflix for years over the big red streamer's reluctance, even refusal to follow traditional theatrical-release practices. Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has adamantly defended Netflix's streaming-forward distribution, saying it's what consumers really want. At the Time 100 event in April of this year, Sarandos called theatrical release "an outmoded idea for most people" and said Netflix was "saving Hollywood"."
Netflix agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery's film and television studios and its streaming operations, including HBO Max, for an equity value near $72 billion and roughly $27.75 per share in cash and stock, valuing Warner Bros. at about $82.7 billion. The transaction followed a heated auction in which Netflix's bid narrowly beat offers from Paramount Skydance and Comcast. Paramount criticized the process as tainted and skewed toward a single bidder. Theater owners reacted negatively because of long-standing disputes over theatrical release practices. Netflix executives defended a streaming-first distribution approach as aligned with consumer preferences.
#streaming-consolidation #mergers-and-acquisitions #hollywood-studios #theatrical-distribution-conflicts
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]