Paramount Makes Rival Bid For Warner Bros. After Netflix's $82 Billion Offer, Includes Game Studios

Wow. Just wow. I never expected something like that to happen in my lifetime 🙁.

"In order to keep up our excellent service, we are increasing your subscription fee to € 30,00 per month. Please understand."

Netflix should go out of business. Hate their business model and I hate streaming.

Yay! Down with that pesky competition! The less players in the scene, the better!

The wider effects this would have on not just gaming but the whole entertainment industry is really concerning. Cinemas will likely be hit in a very serious way as Netflix will focus on making everything streaming based. It will also create less competition as it’s a major consolidation.

A huge move for streaming services.

@Elektrogeist1287

"Anything I don't like shouldn't exist!"

What a s***show the whole Warner Bros. Discovery merger has been.

Guess I'll have one combined bill from Netflix now. And I'll have to cut ties with my Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max bundle deal now.

This will be bad for the industry. It's not a done deal yet though, so hopefully it won't happen.

There goes HBO?

I’m sure this wonderful deal won’t result in a whole heap of layoffs…

Yay for more market concentration ... this was inevitable in some form, but it is still simply bad.

Not the worst of the prospective buyers, but is that really any consolation as we watch the continued monopolization of entertainment?

@Zaruboggan I just didn’t want Paramount to get it.

Please, for the love of God do not allow this merger.

@rockodoodle all the options are bad. HBO Max is without a doubt the best streaming service and all the other companies are worse. I pray this doesn't go through.

The company that has never put out a good original movie or show thinks they can shepard some of the biggest IPs ever.

This is the worst company to buy them outside some random Chinese company

@Dimjimmer Warner Bro was/is a dying company… It surprised they have survived this long after the decade they’ve had. They would have not survived another 10 years. This at least buys them another couple until Netflix realize they was worthless and tries to resell…

Well, on the bright side now any future Arkham games can’t be worse than that Suicide Squad game.

…right? Please?

Here comes the microtransaction and pay-to-play models.....

And here I thought things couldn't get worse for one of my favorite franchises, Mortal Kombat.

I am now just more pissed a Saudi Prince didn't want WB over EA.

Netflix was the neutral option: just the same bad things continuing to happen. Skydance Paramount is the bad one: things immediately getting much much worse. The REAL bad sign though was that COMCAST were the GOOD Option.

We can only hope that, in the confusion, a lion's share of the gameinf assets somehow end up at Wade Rosen's Atari (though now I'm remembering that his brother is the head of games at Nickelodeon, under Paramount, and my mind is putting two and two together and-)

Oh.

Oh no

so no more quality tv shows from hbo. this is awful for the future.

@FragRed This was my thought immediately. What does this mean for movie theatres? Will WB movies not be in theatres anymore? Or will they just keep them as separate brands? Theatre under WB, straight to streaming Netflix?

It's not a great move, but it's not like the games division of Warner Bros. could get much worse really.

@Truegamer79 What's a 'woke agenda'?

@SBandy1 not at all what I said, kid.

Woo, more super consolidation. Because we all know how beneficial this is for the entertainment industry. Especially when it comes to jobs and creativity.

I'm worried for Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight now

@Elektrogeist1287

It very much was.

Or you were just wishing hundreds of thousands out of jobs because you don't like streaming services?

How nice of you!

@Skunkfish "Woke" = "whatever I don't like"

@Gen4Fan Don't be. Most everything in development will still happen. Netflix should be a boon for the video game industry in the fact we should see plenty more DC games on the horizon.

I don't understand all the doom and gloom from so many people on this. Considering the other potential buyers, this is easily the best outcome.

@Truegamer79 woke agenda? What like E. T or The Goonies, i like these films about people who actually care for each other.
Enjoy your tariffs.

This is huge news! How is Netflix going to handle HBO if the deal is accepted? I imagine they would shut it down in favor of offering all content in Netflix which is a big plus for the platform since Netflix infra is a lot better. At the same time, this much content would likely require a price increase…

As for gaming division, I don’t really see them changing anything about it. It’s more of a bonus than the actual reason for this offer, I imagine. For us, diversifying the revenue with games could help hold the price of Netflix sub.

@Elektrogeist1287

Then why are people canceling Netflix in droves? Look it up. I'm not the only one fed up with it. Kids are confused enough without people pushing their ideals on others with their subliminal messages.

@Truegamer79 You buy from outside America. You're just too dense to know it.

Next you'll be telling me kids shouldn't learn Arabic numerals in schools.

@JohnnyMind netflix is the worst option.
Look what they did to the witcher tomb raider splinter cell and devil may cry shows.
All if the sudden it had the biggest drop in viewers.
Also people that think everyone will keep there job will be looking at this later like microsoft just cutting 50.000 jobs in 1 year.

@Truegamer79 like the splinter cell .rap show.

Antitrust laws must be strengthened and strongly enforced to prevent these sorts of things from happening. Of course, the increasingly highly corrupt Trump regime in the United States is very unlikely to engage in such ethical behaviour.

We will all lose choices and quality will diminish as this process continues.

first netflix ruined castlevania by butchering the source material for season 2 now this.

With the corrupt administration in America I'm sure this deal will get approved for the right bribe. This is huge news and it's going to have a ripple effect in the entertainment industry. I'm curious to see how it all turns out.

Better than Paramount buying them but that's not saying much considering there's no such thing as a good monopoly for anyone that isn't already a billionaire.

@Truegamer79 What's your definition of "woke"? 🤔

Two industry giants getting a merger is hugely dangerous. We just get closer and closer to monopolies that can do whatever they please to drive up CEO profits. And of course Trump's FTC will do nothing to stop the merger (well, it might pause it until Netflix and Warner Bros. bribe Trump like the Paramount-Skydance merger).

@Truegamer79 "Then why are people cancelling Netflix in droves?" Oh I don't know, maybe it's the frequent price increases, the fact that most media producers pulled popular IPs to their own services, that people are using social media for entertainment more, or because people just can't afford it anymore. But no, by all means it must be that "woke" boogeyman that the honest internet people have told you to be afraid of. You don't even seem to have a concrete idea of what "woke" even means, just that it's some scary agenda that corrupts the minds of children.

@burninmylight Yep. These people are so ridiculous and pathetic. Anything with diversity enrages them which I find hilarious.😆 And it's always a red flag when someone yells about "protecting" children.😐 Those are the ones who usually have something incriminating on their hard drives and browser history. It's pretty much inevitable at this point

I thought they were getting out of games. Evidently not 🤷‍♂️

@kfflscnt Massive layoffs are definitely happening when/if this deal is approved. That's not including the price hikes to consumers with Netflix, HBO Max, etc... Massive deals like this don't happen without consequences for anyone who isn't a shareholder. I'm sure some people will be happy with this deal and that's ridiculous in my opinion. This is going to be bad for consumers and employees of these companies. Seems like nothing was learned with the Microsoft and Activision merger.😐

Honestly hard to say if this is a good or bad thing for the gaming division. WB has historically been a terrible publisher. Most recently cutting off all support for Mortal Kombat 1 when it should have gotten at least another season. And they've done that with previous games in the series as well. But then Netflix could very likely be just as bad or worse.

@Truegamer79 "I don't buy outside America," says man on fan site for famously Japanese company.

Warner titles are about to go the way of Fox titles!
Banned and blocked and locked into obscurity! With only a tiny fraction to ever see the light of day on disk!

You'd think the FCC would have learned their lesson with the M$ / ActiBlizz merger!

So many jobs lost, IPs that are lost forever.

@Truegamer79

I agree and most people here do not.

While I'm no fan of mass mergers, I'm thankful Netflix won over Paramount (given things).

Gentlemen, it was a pleasure, good night, see you around.

A very interesting development, to be sure. Granted, I don't like the idea of of major business conglomerates merging any more than the next person, but I do find it a bit ironic that what is a relative newcomer to the entertainment industry is buying out a longtime player in the business. It has to make me wonder what WBD's finances are like to the point where a company a fraction of its age is buying it out.

@JohnnyMind The thing you have to remember, though, is that Nintendo is a Japanese business first and foremost. Japanese work culture places a huge emphasis on company loyalty, especially when it comes to how they treat their employees. Basically, you're virtually guaranteed job security, especially in a big business like Nintendo.

Unfortunately, Western companies, especially those in America, do not operate like Japanese companies do, and will basically fire you if it means saving them a few pennies. Now, you can be somewhat protected if you are part of a union, but there has been a huge push to crush unions in this country since the 1980s, and many unions are now shells of their former selves.

Plus, virtually every state in America recognizes the concept of at-will employment, meaning that your employer can fire you at any time for any reason... or no reason at all. However, you can also quit at any time for any reason or no reason at all. Unfortunately, you have to be the one to give advance notice if you decide to leave, but your employer does not need to give any if they want to get rid of you, meaning that the balance of power in that regard is woefully skewed towards your employer.

So, while Japan is notorious for having long work hours, a terrible work-life balance, power harassment, an advancement system based more on age and seniority versus skill and merit, and a reluctance to accept resignations, no matter how warranted, you are at the very least guaranteed a job for the duration of your career as a worker compared to the West. I'm not saying it's a better system, but at the very least, I don't think it's any worse.

But that being said, I doubt that Netflix will pull a Nintendo and keep WBD's employees on board. More than likely, in order to please their shareholders, they will engage in mass firings to cut costs and increase their bottom line. It's a sad state of affairs, but it is the reality we live in.

I echo the sentiments of a handful of others in the comments, Paramount not getting this deal is the one positive in all this. But these gigantic mergers need to be stopped and not much good will come from this level of consolidation.

I see people complaining about Netflix, and I take no issue with people doing so. It just makes me laugh a little because I never bought into streaming services like Netflix. The funny part to me is thinking about how when I was a Netflix subscriber, it was for DVD by mail. And it was the early days of when they did that.

Play Batman only on Netflix!
😬

going to be a hard sell for antitrust reasons..

@Elektrogeist1287

"Netflix should go out of business."

Yes I'm the mental one.

@Truegamer79

"I don't buy from outside America anyway."

😂😂😂

Sums it up.

@Truegamer79 I am not defending this or Netflix in the slightest. But do you have any actual evidence, from a reputable source, that people are canceling Netflix in droves?

And it sounds like you were just itching to throw "woke" into a comment, when its quite clear you have no iota of an idea what you are actually griping about.

What a disgrace to see WB plummet like this - no good ever comes of these mega-acquisitions.

Hold onto your Batman games everyone!

I'm afraid this means the Midway Games IP will stay locked up in license purgatory for years to come.
Hey WB, why not split off and sell your Midway IP to the reborn Atari company (someone who can appreciate it)!

@Joe11 more likely this will restore HBO and undo the awful decisions made due to the discovery merger

@Ralek85 it is only inevitable if you’re a psychotic capitalist and that is your belief system.

These are choices made by people, not inevitabilities

@Truegamer79 please tell me more about this woke agenda, a with some specific examples ‘youve been hearing’.

With all these acquisitions and mega corporate mergers, the hardworking employees and consumers are the ones who ultimately suffer. Also, another justification to sail the high seas, ifkyk.

Honestly as much as this sucks, I prefer Netflix to Paramount

Cool, I'm living paycheck to paycheck but a corporation can blow 80 billion dollars on Warner Brothers. Dog bless

Also, I'm not sure I trust Netflix to run HBO Max tbh

@kal_el_07241 I'm still worried how it'll turn out

I'm a little split on this though, I'm sure it's miles better than Paramount

There goes the last platform that didn’t introduce ads up your ass… didn’t raise their prices and still had account sharing.

Awesome! 🙄

I'm staggered that anyone values WB that highly! I get that they've got some useful IPs under their umbrella, but that is waaay too high.

I'm shocked they even have the capital for this considering an investment firm controlled by Saudi arabias royal family has essentially run out of cash

clearly a overpay by netflix but they had top go this high or disney would have scooped them up..

netflix has a market cap between 436-463 billion dollars..

Netflix is the streaming equivalent of some low tier fast food company in the food business.

The fact they now have access to such beloved franchises is deeply concerning.

So, am I going to lose access to a buncha stuff, and get a price hike again?

Are there still antitrust laws on the books? They exist for a reason.

@FrenchVaniIIuxe the Irishman, the knives out series, kpop demon hunters and all quiet on the western front are all good netflix made films imo.

I still will never pay for Netflix. 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

@Dimjimmer competition is healthy. Unless you were being sarcastic?

Anyway I hope Rocksteady and Avalanche come out of this unscathed if it goes through, but judging by recent acquisitions I’d highly doubt it.

Cancel your subscriptions it's garbage

@Truegamer79
I have noticed a trend.
You mentioned woke agendas, and then a lot of people jumped on you to passively, or actively, demean you, for simply having pointed out the fact there are political and societal topics injected into Netflix.
It's true, but I find the backlash against your rather bizarre.
Everyone is allowed an opinion, and it's not cool for others to pull people down for expressing their own, as was done to you.
The woke mob can't help but attack others for having a different opinion.

Hogwarts Legacy better not be the last Harry Potter game on Switch 2!

@MattmanForever
Do you feel like a big boy now?

@Shmicko Criticizing an argument is not demeaning someone as you say. Yes people can express their opinions, but other people are equally entitled to express their opinions about said opinions. @Truegamer79 gave an argument which is well known to be fear-mongering propagated primarily by right-wing grifters online, and people criticized this argument and questioned if truegamer could even explain what the so-called "woke agenda" was (still waiting for that answer). It's also laughable that you try to present yourself as having an ethical high ground where all of the rest of us just want to "demean" and "pull people down" for having differing opinions from you and those who agree with you, only to end that whole spiel by calling the people who criticized the aforementioned arguments a "woke mob."

It seems to me that there is a MOB here! At least 10 people "ganging up" on TWO users!

Maybe if your crazy was legitimate you wouldn't have to hang up and silence other people for correctly pointing out the hypocrisy and agenda's being pushed by liberal news and media.

to possibly add some context for the "netflix losing subs" while being as middle of the road as I can here.

Netflix does have some shows/cartoons that are more progressive (woke) in their messaging. These shows have been around for a few years. Conservative leaning people have just recently, a few months ago, learned that these shows were on Netflix. They likely did take a hit in their sub numbers from this.

@Spider-Kev

Truegamer was the one who felt the need to bring their politics into this chat in the first place.

Your lot just can't resist it and the rest of us are sick of all the constant crying.

@Theamazing1

K-pop was made by Sony.

@UpsideDownRowlet

His later "rainbow flags for everyone" comment revealed the predictable truth and the "I don't buy from outside America" comment revealed the predictable intelligence.

@SBandy1 Thanks, I guess I missed that. It's honestly crazy how some people get so triggered about the portrayal of people different from them in media

But what about DC Comics proper?

All other aspects aside. I hope this means we finally get gauntlet legends/ dark legacy on modern platforms

@JohnnyMind Yeah, when it comes to American companies versus Japanese companies, it's basically a "pick your poison" scenario. Very few countries do not have a toxic work culture, but the ones that try to promote worker's rights are usually the Scandinavian countries, like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, plus some Pacific nations like Australia and New Zealand (especially the latter). I've also heard that France and the Netherlands are also pretty decent as well. Not sure about your home country of Italy, though; I've heard conflicting things.

I'd be down if they bring Multiversus back.

@Truegamer79 Obvious troll is obvious.

@Spider-Kev : Forget it, Jake. It's S&G.

Get ready for huge monthly subscription hikes if this goes through

@SBandy1

That's exactly what Republicans say about Democrats too!

I hate both sides! All they do is play the citizens against each other instead of doing what's right

@SillyG

I don't know what that means

Totally nuts. Netflix now owns Bugs Bunny.

You know, normally I'd be against mergers like this. But frankly, GOOD RIDDANCE. So happy that there's a good chance that the majority of WB's upper file will be trashed, maybe we can see an actually decent WB come out of this.

@FrenchVaniIIuxe fair enough but the rest are netflix made.

@Spider-Kev : I was subtly expressing solidarity with your (and a select few others) sentiment in the form of a movie reference that substitutes "Chinatown" with the people of Lot.

Great. Wondrous. I’ve already been unable to play some stuff on iOS/iPadOS because it gets locked behind a Netflix sub, and I don’t have, need or want one - I can only envision that getting worse.

@Aswannsong Psychotic? How so?

We've known for close to 200 years now that market agents will push towards a monopoly/monopson, as that is beneficial for them by forcing price setting power.

In terms of the particular, that being tech buying legacy media and legacy media fusing, we've all seen this happening for years (newspapers being bought by Bezos and the likes, Disney fusing with 20th Century Fox as well as buying out George Lucas ...). It actually got to the point were this was one of the main points of one of HBO's own big hits, that is Succession.

As for your remark about people making choices ... that is not actually accurate, you have groups of people making choices on behalf of third party entities they represent. In many instances, they have actual legal obligations in one way or another to do so. And no "the public good" is not one of them.

I would bemoan that, but again: what is the point after two centuries of this? It is what is. People should stop moaning and push governments, aka entities actually obligated to the public good to stop these market agents from pushing the market to concentration.

Agian, we've seen them fail at this time and time again, but no one is without blame here: people like to put market-first ideological parties in power across the board ... rarely is it in their interest, but being economic illiterate, they find themselves at the mercy of the very gatekeepers being bought out and concentrated.

Is it a vicious cycle? Yeah, but given our current situation, I think it was absolutey inevitable for the big hollywood studios to either further concentrate or be bought out by tech. This is also definitely not the end of it - unfortunately.

@OpheliaDynamight
(Truegamer79) "I don't buy outside America," says man on UK BASED fan site for famously Japanese company.

It probably will not do anything, but contact your politicians and demand they prevent the merger.

@alexybubble Never think good will come from this. It never leads to good. Even if it did, what happens when the next Netflix CEO decides to use it for evil?

... And this Netflix CEO fired the director of programming that brought us Orange is the New Black, Bojack, Stranger Things, etc. and hired the director of alternative programming that mandated people are too stupid to follow plot so the characters need to say out loud the plot many times.

This is the worst outcome for WB, despite WB being run by the worst studio executive in decades.

@SillyG

I have not yet seen Chinatown.

@vanYth

If it is UK based, why did they use a .com address and not a .co.uk address?

The main reason I started coming here years and years and years ago was because it was an american .com address

@vanYth
Oh and because you are being cowardly by not tagging him, here, let me do it for you...
@Truegamer79

@Spider-Kev
You are kidding, right?
Please tell me, that you are kidding

I guess all those Atari Games/Midway classic arcade games will get buried even further now!
🙄 what a shame! Good thing due to bc I can still play Midway Arcade Origins on my Series X.

@joey302
I really hope this is a chance for Atari/Infogrames to at least buy out the Atari Games games…

When everything you touch turns into steaming excrement, but you also have money to buy even more things to turn into steaming excrement.

@Shmicko Again- what is “woke”? Seems you don’t know much… like that other fella…

@Spider-Kev “I don’t know what anything means…” “oh no, spoilers! REEEEEE-“

@Elektrogeist1287

You're a freaking child

@k8sMum Are there still antitrust laws on the books? They exist for a reason.

There was but current Reigns don't care...

@Elektrogeist1287
Aussie Aussie Aussie
Oi Oi Oi
G'day from down under!

Who would have thought. First they just sent DVD's in the mail, similar to Blockbuster.

Now they own Warner Bros and a vast majority of all of my favorite IPs. I guess no more movie theater showings for WB.

But where on earth did they get that money? This is why anti-trust laws are so important!

@FishyS Netflix also fully embraces AI generation, so expect lots of slop from the shows/movies we grew up with.

I fully anticipate a LOTR reboot TV series fully implementing AI.

I think I'm going to be sick...

@JohnnyMind That is indeed true, that each individual company's culture does matter. I know that the company I work for has treated us pretty well, and we're not even unionized. In comparison, my last job working at a grocery store owned by one of the largest supermarket chains in the world (which was, ironically, unionized) treated us terribly. Now, I am not saying this to knock unions; not by a long shot, but my own personal experience working at a unionized business was not great. But that's because my union was weak.

Watch Apple buy 2K and make GTA6 an Apple Arcade timed exclusive. 😆

@larausjarod
I know, though I would use the word regime.

netflix is borrowing 59 billion dollars to finance this deal.

@vanYth that would be the best case scenario I feel. It’s the last major group of classic games missing on the Switch etc

That would be embarrassing for Netflix. They even sent me an email bragging about the deal!

Ooh paramount have come out guns blazing. Is nice to hear some tough talking from a company like this for a change!

Anything but Netflix with their films made for the streaming audiences who watch the movies phone in hands and who don't care about picture and audio quality. At least this way films would still stay in theaters and in no way Paramount would be worse for the gaming either.

Paramount would be worse.

Either outcome is abysmal for anyone who enjoys film and TV.

The irony of David Ellison complaining about someone else’s anti-competitive behavior is so thick you could cut it with a knife. If you’ve been in IT for long time you know what a crock it is for him to ever complain about this. Him and Oracle have been a cancer to the IT industry long before he dipped his toes so publicly in politics.

Not a fan of Netflix buying HBO, but decidedly against Paramount owning it. Surefire way to guarantee I never subscribe again.

I don't even know what to say about this anymore. Feels like either deal would be terrible.

Wow, I didn't think Paramount would retaliate. Now it all comes down to "which one (Netflix or Paramount) is the lesser of two evils?"

And there it is. Not sure why they need to bother attempting an aggressive takeover. A certain someone will stick his nose in and play favorites.
I don't think there's any question who his favorite is at this point.

paramount will win the deal because of close contacts..

These mergers should be illegal.

because paramoint is close to trump... such a mess

gets out popcorn
This is gonna be a fun one to read through. Wonder why NL hasn't closed of comments yet? Ah well, more entertainment for me!

Whatever the outcome, I'm hoping for Paramount as it will mean films at Cinemas, on DVD and Bluray.
Netflix is a horrible idea and it will mean so much good stuff will be relegated to streaming.

I don't subscribe to Netflix, never have and never will.
Netflix is the death knell to physical media and popcorn nights at the cinema .

The sheer loss of certain features at Cinemas would reduce Cinema visits resulting in Cinema Closures .

we have lost so may already .

Definitely not a merger I want to see at all. The Ellisons want to censor our entertainment and news, so we can be "on our best behavior" while Oracle spies on us.

No one really wins here at all.

"Paramount enters the conversation"

Maybe just sell individual licenses WB owns separately, because not one company should suddenly own DC, Looney Toons, and EVERYTHING ELSE under Warner Bros.!

I hate how perfect the picture at the top of the article is. The ramifications of another big studio being bought out are darker than Batman's stool.
Especially if it's bought out by Paramount.

More mergers = less competition and less choices = we all lose.

Not sure if Paramount would be much better. Maybe more home video releases? Netflix rarely lets anything exclusive to them get to home video.

Paramount out here like...

I was wondering why such an established name would even want to sell itself, but looking through its history, the actual Warner Bros. company has been mashed into, split from, and tossed around by so many other big players that it's a miracle they've maintained any kind of positive reputation. Hopefully the brand and all the classics tied to it manage to weather whatever comes next as well.

Paramount is in Trump's pockets right now and is turning into a very right wing studio so no way in hell do i want Paramount owning WB. Netflix are very much the lesser evil here.

@KITG_GROUP "old man yells at cloud". Covid killed Cinema's not Netflix.

So, this is a perfect storm of awful.

WBD is owned by one of the most internally destructive individuals in David Zaslav, who has scrapped projects for a tax write-off while not exactly doing much for the Warner Bros. side while favoring the Discovery side, where he came from.

Netflix has a great streaming presence, but a takeover by them would mean EVERYTHING would move to stream and nothing would go to theaters, who'll end up eating that massive hit.

Paramount Skydance has been getting more and more political, and have been favored by the current US administration. It's not outside the realm of likely possibility to think that the products put out will reflect as such.

It's honestly just a massively awful situation.

Paramount Skydance (PSKY) announced on Monday a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in an all-cash deal worth $30 per share, with a total value of $108.4 billion, as the company moves to top Netflix's (NFLX) deal struck last week to acquire the storied studio

On Friday, Netflix agreed to acquire Warner Bros.' TV, film, studios, and streaming division for $72 billion in equity value — roughly $27.75 per share — in a cash-and-stock deal worth a total $82.7 billion that would see Warner Bros. shareholders receive $23.35 per share, along with $4.50 in Netflix common stock.

@KITG_GROUP Don't want to bring politics into this, but it's impossible.

The family behind Paramount are basically MAGA, white supremacists and the like. It would be so very wrong for Paramount to win this.

Please not Paramount!

@Olmectron there would be no winner whoever wins

Critics said a Netflix-Warner combo would be bad news for moviegoers and for people who work in theaters. Cinema United - a trade association that represents more than 30,000 movie screens in the U.S. and another 26,000 screens internationally - was quick to oppose the deal, which it said "poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business."

"Netflix's stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. In fact, it is the opposite," Michael O'Leary, CEO of Cinema United, said Friday. "Theaters will close, communities will suffer, jobs will be lost."

The Writers Guild of America sounded a similar alarm and called for the merger to be blocked

For anyone that likes film, Netflix buying them is terrible. Netflix has deprioritized film in favor of soap operas and their business model is largely anti-cinema. We'll end up with a bunch of Harry Potter and DC soap operas if Netflix's purchase goes through. Plus, there already has been a consolidation of film studios over the past 20 years.

Not sure this would trigger any anti-trust laws. It is kind of hairy, if you lived somewhere where the only option you had was Netflix, then you might have a case. The truth is even two options, still leaves an option and it is hard to battle in court. Im not saying this is good or bad, just saying that because people are upset by it doesn't make it illegal.

In other related news..... wait Paramount is still around and has money?

@NintendoJunkie paramount skydance was founded last year from what was the old viacom cbs company... owned by the son of oracle founder larry ellison.

@johnedwin Don't you mean it formed/founded from Paramount as they rebranded the company by making the Paramount name as the main company and Viacom and CBS got shuffled under that.

To all the international folks who have been able to be blissfully unaware of the nonsense we've been putting up with in the States: YOU DO NOT WANT PARAMOUNT TO WIN THIS

They are Skydance now, and Skydance is essentially THE REICHSTAG

@Jamie64326 so many different mergers within these companies over the years i lost track which was which..

Yeah, I didn't think this would just go by just like that. I even received an email from Netflix welcoming Warner Bros. into their midst. As if it was a done deal. I'm certain many involved parties will do everything in their power to prevent this from happening. Monopolies are bad.

@TheBigK No. James Gunn confirmed they will still doing games and there will multiple new DC game in development.

@Olmectron Donald Trump has a longtime friendship with Larry Ellison and his son, David Ellison who calls Donald his Uncle too so we know why Trump is getting behind Paramount and if Paramount get their hands on DC they will kill the company and fire James Gunn and Peter Safran and replace them with their own people because Trump hates the current DCU and called it woke rubbish. Not to mention they have already said they don't see any money in comic books and think they should be phased out when it was the comic books DC was built on.

@AllBLK Woke to these people now is anything that doesn't feature a white heterosexual male as lead and promote outdated 50s gender stereotypes, racism and homophobia.

@MasterGraveheart Netflix have already said they are still going to release all the movies in movie theatres but they will just have shorter windows before they get released on Netflix. Movie theatres are going the same way as books and it has nothing to do with Netflix and everything to do with Gen Z not caring about going to movie theatres enough to see movies now as the generation before it and most kids my Nieces and Nephew's age don't care about going to movie theatres anymore and rather watch movies on TV at home. Things change and companies are going to have to learn to adapt to it and modernize or they will be left behind.

@johnedwin In that case it wasn't even a recent merger, they decided at the time to rebrand as Paramount as it's the more recognisable name.

The quote from the Netflix co-CEO:

"I think, over time, the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker…I’d say right now, you should count on everything that is planned on going to the theater through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros., and Netflix movies will take the same strides they have, which is, some of them do have a short run in the theater beforehand. But our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to our members, because that’s what they’re looking for.”

In other words: "whatever is already planned to come to theatres that we can't easily change will still come out in theatres, but after that it's straight to streaming baby! Da-dummm!"

Couldn't care less honestly. They can all implode for all I care. We have enough good entertainment to last a few more lifetimes already, and most everything else has been getting progressively worse for a decade or so with no end in sight to the slump. Everything is so boring, homogenized, and repurposed these days and all the companies pull on is legacy/nostalgia material because it's the only thing truly good they have. Gaming outside of most Nintendo and some indie stuff is starting the slump in the same way. Time to batten down with all the great stuff that made it out the gate before everything became lukewarm cocoa.

@DollyrotsFan1 Exactly. I just want these cowards to say it. They're racist, misogynistic, and ignorant. The world is too massive and amazing to just cater to one demographic. We would think by now some people would realize that. But they would rather stew in hatred.😐

@Spider-Kev You're correct about how they play people against each other, but I don't think you'll find much buy-in in this comment section.

I mean, there are two Warner Bros. right? Netflix gets one, Paramount gets the other. Problem solved.

@Olmectron hats the problem , Politics, we should all think what's best for the entertainment industry.

Not what side we fall on Politically , we have our own White supremacists in the UK. But NETFLIX is not a good call for Warner.

Well this is tragic whatever way it goes for different reasons. There is no good option here. Unless by some miracle (which won’t happen) the justice department steps in and forbids the merger and also slaps down paramount at the same time.

@johnedwin netflix is borrowing 59 billion dollars to finance this deal.

I was kinda correct now they will install Micro-Transaction and Pay to Play now...If they were Financial stable why borrow to buy WB???

@axelhander

Who gets the Warner Sister?

@Spider-Kev I didn't think that far ahead. I dunno, HBO?

@axelhander

And here I thought you were making an Animaniacs joke...

@Spider-Kev I got the Animaniacs reference but I couldn't think of something clever to do with Dot. Sowwy.