Netflix has officially announced its plans to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses. The proposed acquisition is valued at $82.7 billion USD (around $115.4 billion CAD).
Confirmed via Netflix, the company reveals that the deal has been agreed upon in a cash and stock transaction, valued at $27.75 per WBD share. However, the contingency is that Discovery Global will be broken off into a new publicly-traded company. This is expected to be complete by Q3 2026. Channels such as Discovery, CNN, and TNT will not be a part of the acquisition.
With this in mind, Netflix will acquire the studio and streaming rights of well-known IPs such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Batman, The Sopranos, and The Big Bang Theory. These will join Netflix’s exclusive portfolio alongside Stranger Things, Squid Game, Wednesday, and more.
“This acquisition will improve our offering and accelerate our business for decades to come,” Greg Peters, co-CEO of Netflix, said in a press release. “Warner Bros. has helped define entertainment for more than a century and continues to do so with phenomenal creative executives and production capabilities.”
Netflix is already a dominant force in the streaming wars. The company has a subscriber base of well over 300 million. Adding Warner Bros.’ library to its catalogue not only strengthens its value within the streaming industry but brings Netflix into the fold for theatrical releases.
Warner Bros. has been the subject of a bidding war between companies like Netflix, Comcast and even Paramount. Each submitted a tangible bid to purchase the company. However, it ultimately led to Netflix being chosen, seemingly as it offered a cash and stock big. This deal is unprecedented, as throughout its 28 years as a business, the company has never been this aggressive in attempting to acquire a company.
Although an official acquisition plan has been made, a deal of this size will need to gain approval from federal regulators. It remains to be seen if Netflix will face any road bumps throughout this process or not.
We’re currently seeing a trend of streaming services attempting to consolidate entertainment companies. In a similar, and yet lesser valued deal, Amazon acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2022. The company secured the streaming and theatrical rights for franchises like James Bond and Rocky.
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If it goes through, not only it will be bad news for the movie theatres and movie goers but Netflix subscribers can expect the price hike because someone has to pay for the acquisition. And Netflix will explain, as always when they rise the subscription, than it is necessary in order to offer to their valued subscribers the great quality programming.