Overview
- In a staff letter filed with the SEC, Netflix co‑CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos called the Warner Bros. acquisition pro‑consumer and pro‑worker and said they are confident in regulatory approval.
- Netflix pledged to keep releasing Warner Bros. films in theaters and said there would be no overlap or studio closures, positioning the transaction as job‑preserving growth.
- The board‑backed Netflix agreement is an asset purchase valued at about $82.7 billion including debt and excludes WBD’s cable networks, which are slated for a spin‑off into Discovery Global.
- Paramount Skydance is countering with a hostile all‑cash tender for the entire company at roughly $108 billion, a bid that would include CNN and other cable assets.
- Netflix cited Nielsen data that a combined view share would rise from 8% to 9% versus YouTube at 13% and a potential Paramount‑WBD at 14%, while antitrust experts and unions warned of lengthy, uncertain reviews and raised concerns about consolidation and CNN’s future.