The Biggest Media Deal in History
Netflix agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming and studio assets for $83 billion — $27.75 per share in cash and stock. Before the ink dried, Paramount launched a competing hostile tender offer of $108.4 billion at $30 per share in cash.
Two of the largest entertainment companies in the world are fighting over a third. The winner will control a content library that includes Harry Potter, DC Comics, HBO, CNN, Game of Thrones, and the Looney Tunes.
The Bids
Netflix's offer: $83 billion. Cash and stock at $27.75/share. Netflix has already received the DOJ's second information request under antitrust review. Warner Bros. Discovery's board accepted the offer and scheduled a March 20 shareholder vote.
Paramount's counter: $108.4 billion. All cash at $30/share. Paramount cleared the DOJ's Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust waiting period, meaning it has regulatory clearance that Netflix does not yet have.
Netflix granted WBD a seven-day window to negotiate with Paramount, ending February 23. The clock is ticking.
Deadline: Paramount Clears US Antitrust Hurdle for Warner Bros Bid
James Cameron's Letter
Director James Cameron — whose films Titanic and Avatar are among the highest-grossing in history — sent what CNBC described as a "scathing letter" to antitrust lawmakers opposing the Netflix deal. Cameron's argument: allowing Netflix to absorb Warner Bros.' studio assets would create a content monopoly that would reduce competition for filmmakers, actors, and writers.
Cameron's concern is not abstract. He has films in development. A Netflix-WBD merger could mean fewer competing studios bidding for his projects.
CNBC: James Cameron Sends Scathing Letter Over Netflix-WBD Deal
What It Means for Content
If Netflix wins: the streaming giant absorbs HBO, CNN, Warner Bros. Studios, DC Comics, and the entire WBD library. Netflix would control more entertainment IP than any single company in history. Every Harry Potter sequel, every DC movie, every HBO prestige series would be a Netflix exclusive.
If Paramount wins: the Paramount-Skydance entity would own Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, AND Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, and DC Comics. This would create the second-largest media company in the world behind Disney.
Either outcome reduces the number of major studios from five to four.
The Antitrust Question
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has called for "full and robust review" of both deals. The DOJ's top antitrust chief, Gail Slater, resigned just before the Live Nation trial — raising questions about whether the agency has the leadership to handle a deal of this magnitude.
The entertainment industry is consolidating at a pace not seen since the studio system of the 1930s. The question is whether regulators will let it happen. The money says yes.