Netflix to acquire Warner Bros Discovery in $125 billion deal

🎬🍿 Netflix is set to acquire Warner Bros and HBO Max in a $125 billion deal that will reshape the global streaming landscape

For that price, and according to reports out of the US overnight, Netflix takes the TV and movie studio and other assets, including the HBO Max streaming service.

The deal, subject to regulatory approval, would essentially combine two of the world’s three biggest streamers and a major Hollywood studio. Suddenly, Netflix, the firm that started out delivering DVD movies in envelopes in 1998, becomes the biggest screen powerhouse of all.

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So what will Netflix now own if the deal goes through?

• DC Universe: Superman, Batman.
• The Matrix 
• Harry Potter
• Sex & The City
• Friends
• The Sopranos 
• Succession 
• Adventure Time
• Cartoon Network
• The PowerPuff Girls
• the Big Bang Theory
• Minecraft (film rights)
• The Lord of the Rings (film rights) 
• Ocean's 
• Mad Max
• Scooby-Doo 
• The Jetsons
• Looney Tunes
• The Conjuring 
• The Hangover

+ more 

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“If the deal goes through, it will fundamentally reshape Hollywood at a precarious time for the entertainment business,” wrote CNN’s Brian Stelter.

“It would give Netflix control of some of the industry’s most valuable intellectual property, including Batman, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, and would give a company that historically had very little interest in movie theatres oversight of the studio that put more butts in seats than any other this year.”

A recent Bank of America analyst report said: “If Netflix acquires Warner Bros, the streaming wars are effectively over. Netflix would become the undisputed global powerhouse of Hollywood beyond even its currently lofty position.”

The deal will reverberate across oceans and even to our own Sky, potentially reshaping how and where Kiwis might see their favourite shows.

Right now, Sky TV screens HBO Max content on its own Neon streaming platform.

It’s one of HBO Max’s hottest properties, alongside other contemporary and legacy shows such as The White Lotus, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Succession and The Last of Us.

The deal is not officially through - it first needs regulatory and shareholder approval.

Netflix expects the acquisition will go through by mid 2027.

First published by NZ Herald, republished here with permission + edits. 

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