"For months, Hollywood has fretted about the possible acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, home to one of the industry's most storied studios. The likeliest buyer seemed to be one of its chief rivals, Paramount, a legacy movie company suddenly flush with cash and power under its new owner, David Ellison. The son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison seemingly has his eyes set on controlling as much of American filmmaking as possible, and was rumored to be plotting a big maneuver to merge the two studios; Warner Bros. eventually opened up a bidding war in October, after Ellison made multiple takeover offers. Paramount appeared set to secure a victory, reportedly with the tacit approval of the Trump White House, until the surprising news broke last Friday: Netflix had won the auction. Suddenly, a new kind of apocalypse was on the horizon for an industry facing numerous issues already."
"A potential merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. had sparked widespread concerns-primarily because consolidation on this level is often bad for market competition. Left-wing pundits also expressed anxiety about the conservative-leaning Ellison gaining control of Warner Bros.' TV properties, namely CNN, which would give him immense heft in the cable-news space. (Paramount already operates CBS, which has experienced politically fraught turnover in recent months.) But the notion of Netflix-a colossal streaming company that is actively hostile to theatrical exhibition-owning such a venerable Hollywood studio has struck some critics as a grander existential threat. Since announcing the deal, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has put out statements trying to assuage any panic."
""I think it's important to note that all we are going to do with this is staying deeply committed to releasing those movies exactly the way they've released the movies today," he said at a conference on Monday."
Hollywood fretted for months over a possible acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount emerged as the likeliest buyer under David Ellison, triggering rumors of a major merger and a bidding war. Paramount appeared poised to win, reportedly with tacit approval from the Trump White House, until Netflix unexpectedly won the auction. Observers warned that a Paramount–Warner merger would harm competition and that Ellison owning CNN would concentrate political power. Critics view Netflix owning a major studio as an existential threat to theatrical exhibition and industry norms. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos publicly pledged to maintain current film release practices.
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