Netflix looks like it’s joining Paramount in the chase to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. We wait and see just how this turns out.
We’re already at a point in history where big tech basically owns two historic, storied film studios. Amazon owns MGM, and effectively it’s Oracle money behind Paramount. Now, Warner Bros Discovery, as we’ve discussed here, is up for sale. And with a grim inevitability, it looks like Netflix is now having a good sniff around.
Already, Skydance – the new owners of Paramount – have reportedly had three bids for Warner Bros Discovery turned down. Now comes the news that Netflix has enlisted a financial advisory firm – rest assured they earn more money than us – to explore a possible bid for Warner Bros Discovery.
Deadline has a source confirming that Netflix is “looking into” a possible bid, but also, Netflix itself is staying entirely mum on the matter.
Netflix had seemed to be veering against a possible bid in recent weeks, and the company is notoriously anti-cinema too. That its co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, has been open about the fact that he’s not interested in cinema box office, he’s interested in subscriber numbers. It’s a way of thinking that’s leading some to take a lower offer for their work than Netflix pays, in order to secure cinema releases for their work.
Inevitable, questions arise should Netflix pursue an acquisition. Is it looking to find material to funnel into its streaming service, and will it reduce the theatrical appetite for Warner Bros Discovery work? Given that the studio has been behind a string of hits this year, and a string of critical successes too, there are inevitably alarm bells here.
It does seem increasingly likely that Warner Bros Discovery will be under new ownership in the next two to three years one way or another, and the hope is that the output of the company remains in tact. And, of course, that the human beings working for the company actually keep their job. Given what’s happening at Paramount at the moment, that seems a forlorn hope.