Streaming giant joins bidding war alongside Paramount and Comcast, seeking premium assets like HBO and Warner Bros studios….
Streaming powerhouse Netflix has reportedly submitted a predominantly cash offer to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, as the historic but heavily indebted studio explores a potential sale that could transform the U.S. media landscape.
According to Bloomberg, Netflix joined Paramount Skydance and Comcast owner of NBCUniversal, in a second round of bidding over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros studios, officially put itself on the market in October after receiving multiple unsolicited offers. The move prompted the company to shelve its previously planned split between streaming/studio operations and traditional cable networks.
Paramount, recently acquired by the tech billionaire family of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, had initially targeted Warner Bros Discovery. David Ellison, a movie producer and Paramount CEO, reportedly made three consecutive offers before Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav opened a formal sale process.
Netflix, the world’s largest streaming platform with over 280 million global subscribers, is exploring a bridge loan worth tens of billions of dollars to fund the potential acquisition, Bloomberg sources say. If successful, the deal would significantly expand Netflix’s content production capabilities while securing high-profile assets such as HBO and Warner Bros studios.
However, the proposed transaction could face intense antitrust scrutiny in the United States and other international markets. Many industry insiders have voiced concerns about Netflix acquiring Warner Bros, noting the company’s tendency to favor streaming over traditional theatrical releases.
Notably, director James Cameron, famous for Titanic, recently told the podcast The Town that a Netflix takeover of Warner Bros would be “a disaster.”
At the time of publication, neither Netflix nor Warner Bros Discovery had responded to requests for comment.
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