Netflix Drops a Bombshell, Buying Warner Bros. Discovery’s Studio and Streaming Empire for $72 Billion
Written by b87fm on 12/05/2025
Netflix just detonated the biggest deal Hollywood has seen in a generation. The streamer has reached a $72 billion agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s iconic studio and streaming divisions, pulling Harry Potter, Friends, HBO, and DC Studios under its global entertainment umbrella.
The blockbuster acquisition, announced Friday, instantly reshapes the power map of film and television. Warner’s legendary studio, HBO Max, and DC Studios will now live inside Netflix’s rapidly expanding entertainment empire, while the company’s Discovery Global cable networks will be spun off into a separate publicly traded company.
“For more than a century, Warner Bros. has thrilled audiences, captured the world’s attention, and shaped our culture,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said. “By coming together with Netflix, we will ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come.”
The cash-and-stock deal values Warner at $27.75 per share, totaling roughly $82.7 billion in enterprise value. The transaction is expected to close once the cable spinoff is completed in the third quarter of 2026.
Shares of Warner Bros. jumped nearly 3 percent in premarket trading, while Netflix and Paramount slid more than 2 percent.
Netflix, long known for bypassing traditional theatrical distribution, is pledging to maintain Warner’s existing movie theater commitments. That’s a notable shift for a company that historically kept its originals online, with only rare theatrical exceptions like a limited run of KPop Demon Hunters and the forthcoming Stranger Things series finale.
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, framed the merger as an expansion of the company’s founding mission. “Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” he said. “Joining with Warner will give audiences more of what they love.”
Not everyone is convinced. Cinema United, representing more than 30,000 U.S. movie screens and another 26,000 abroad, strongly opposed the merger, calling it “an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business.”
“Netflix’s business model does not support theatrical exhibition,” CEO Michael O’Leary warned. “Theatres will close, communities will suffer, jobs will be lost.”
Friday’s announcement follows a months-long bidding war that included interest from Comcast and a series of aggressive, all-cash offers from Skydance-owned Paramount. For a time, Paramount appeared to be the frontrunner, reportedly aiming to buy Warner’s entire portfolio — cable networks included.
Warner shifted direction in June, announcing plans to split its cable operations (CNN, Discovery, TNT Sports, Discovery+, Bleacher Report) from its studio and streaming assets. That separation paved the way for Netflix’s offer.
Despite recently claiming it had “no interest in owning legacy media networks,” Netflix ultimately moved forward once Warner’s cable businesses were carved out.
The merger is expected to face significant regulatory scrutiny, especially with Netflix and HBO Max becoming sister platforms under one roof. But shareholders from both companies have already signed off.
If approved, the deal would mark one of the most dramatic consolidations in entertainment history — and cement Netflix as the most powerful media company on earth.
