Netflix to buy Warner Bros. film and streaming assets in $72 billion deal [View all]
Source: CNBC
Published Fri, Dec 5 2025 7:11 AM EST Updated 16 Min Ago
Netflix announced Friday it’s reached a deal to buy pieces of Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing a swift end to a dramatic bidding process that saw Paramount Skydance and Comcast also vying for the legacy assets. The transaction is comprised of cash and stock and is valued at $27.75 per WBD share, the companies said. That puts the equity value of the deal at $72 billion, with a total enterprise value of approximately $82.7 billion.
Netflix will acquire Warner Bros.’s film studio and streaming service, HBO Max. Warner Bros. Discovery will move forward with its previously planned spin out of Discovery Global, which includes its massive portfolio of pay TV networks, such as TNT and CNN.
The blockbuster deal brings together the streaming giant Netflix, which has upended the media industry in recent years, and the storied Warner Bros. film studio, known for its library including “The Wizard of Oz,” the Harry Potter franchise and the DC comics universe. It will also include the content of HBO Max, including “The Sopranos” and “Game of Thrones.”
“I know some of you’re surprised that we’re making this acquisition, and I certainly understand why. Over the years, we have been known to be builders, not buyers,” Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on an investor call Friday morning.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/05/neflix-warner-bros-discovery-deal.html
Skydance/CBS was whining ahead of this so I bet some moves to block this will be underway.
This convoluted mess has some history going back to the '90s when CBS (under Viacom) created "UPN" with Paramount. Eventually CBS grabbed Warner Bros. to form "CW" and UPN went away.
All of this finagling is to get the catalogs of both studios - Warner Bros. and Paramount.
Meanwhile Comcast has held close to the Universal Studios catalog for some time.
One of the other big studio/catalog out there is MGM (and UA), that after their own convoluted ownership dramas, including Ted Turner back in the day (who also created CNN, TBS, and TNT, the later two to air stuff that from the catalog, and eventually rolled into Time-Warner), are now owned by Amazon.
And yet another - Columbia Pictures, is owned by Sony (who has an agreement with Netflix). Finally (of the big ones), there is Disney studios, that is obviously still Disney (owner of ABC). And then there's Fox (20th & 21st Century).
Article updated.
Previous articles/headline -
Netflix announced Friday it's reached a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing a swift end to a dramatic bidding process that saw Paramount Skydance and Comcast also vying for the legacy assets.
The transaction is comprised of cash and stock and is valued at $27.75 per WBD share, the companies said. That puts the total enterprise value of the transaction at approximately $82.7 billion, with an equity value of $72 billion.
Netflix will acquire WBD's film studio and streaming service, HBO Max. Warner Bros. Discovery will move forward with its spin out of Discovery Global, which includes its massive portfolio of pay TV networks, such as TNT and CNN, as previously planned.
The blockbuster deal brings together the streaming giant Netflix, which has upended the media industry in recent years and the storied film Warner Bros. film studio, known for its library including "The Wizard of Oz," the "Harry Potter" franchise and the DC comics universe that includes Superman and Batman. It will also add the content of HBO Max, including "The Sopranos" and "Game of Thrones."
Published Fri, Dec 5 2025 7:11 AM EST Updated 5 Min Ago
Netflix announced Friday it's reached a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing a swift end to a dramatic bidding process that saw Paramount Skydance and Comcast also vying for the legacy assets.
The deal is comprised of cash and stock and is valued at $27.75 per WBD share, the companies said. That puts the total enterprise value of the transaction at approximately $82.7 billion.
The deal is for WBD's film studio and streaming service, HBO Max. Warner Bros. Discovery will still spin out its TV networks, which includes TNT and CNN, as previously planned.
The acquisition is expected to close after that separation takes place, now expected in the third quarter of 2026.
Original article -
Netflix announced Friday it's reached a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing a swift end to a dramatic bidding process that saw Paramount Skydance and Comcast also vying for the legacy assets.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast's planned spinoff of Versant.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
= new reply since forum marked as read