Netflix's Warner Bros. Plans Just Hit a Wall
Netflix’s $82.7 billion play for Warner Bros. Discovery stunned Hollywood, igniting fierce pushback from the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, and top creatives — and a new twist now threatens to blow up the deal.
If you woke up to breathless posts saying Netflix just bought Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount is now swooping in with a richer offer, take a beat. This story is flying around fast, but a lot of it either isn't supported by actual filings or mashes together details that don't line up.
What people are claiming
- Netflix agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $82.7 billion, sparking immediate pushback from Hollywood unions and creatives, naming the DGA and WGA specifically.
- The chatter even says the DGA is led by Christopher Nolan. (It isn't.)
- A follow-up 'shock update' says the Netflix-WBD deal hit a snag because Paramount Pictures launched a hostile counteroffer to buy all of WBD.
- That supposed Paramount bid is framed as a superior all-cash proposal that would deliver $18 billion more in cash to WBD shareholders than Netflix's offer.
- The claims also argue WBD's board is favoring Netflix based on a rosy valuation of its Global Networks (read: the linear cable channels) and that the Netflix path involves a tricky mix of cash and stock plus a rough regulatory gauntlet.
- David Ellison is cited as the Paramount executive urging WBD shareholders to choose the richer Paramount bid over Netflix's $82.7 billion package.
What doesn't add up
Let's start with the obvious: if Netflix actually struck an $82.7 billion agreement to buy WBD, you'd see formal announcements from both companies and the kind of SEC paperwork you can't miss. Same goes for any hostile bid of that scale from Paramount. None of that has materialized in the way it would need to for a real, live mega-merger.
About those union details: yes, unions and guilds routinely weigh in on consolidation, and they've been especially vocal the last few years. But the part about the DGA being led by Christopher Nolan is just wrong. That alone should raise your eyebrow about the sourcing.
On the Paramount angle: David Ellison runs Skydance. He's been central to separate negotiations involving Paramount, but he isn't a Paramount Pictures executive. If a Paramount-led hostile takeover of WBD were truly underway, it would be a once-in-a-generation move with immediate, obvious footprints across finance and trade press. So far, we're not seeing those footprints.
The cash vs. cash-and-stock debate and the 'Global Networks' jab are the kind of finance-world nitty-gritty you hear in real merger pitches. WBD's Global Networks is basically the linear TV side (the cable channels you know). It's fair to argue about how much that's worth in 2025. But without real bids in the open, this reads more like someone reverse-engineering talking points than an actual offer letter.
Short version: until the companies put out real statements and file real paperwork, treat this as rumor, not reality.
Where this leaves Warner Bros., DC, and everyone else
If you're worried about what all this would mean for Warner Bros., DC, and the rest of the WBD slate: nothing changes until there's an actual, confirmed deal. Mergers of this size take months (sometimes years), get pored over by regulators, and face mountains of integration headaches. The idea that Netflix bought WBD on Friday and Paramount tried to snatch it on Monday is, at best, wildly premature.
I get why this story is sticky: huge number, big brands, and it plays into the current consolidation wave. But right now, the 'Netflix bought WBD' and 'Paramount hostile bid with $18 billion more cash' narrative reads like a game of telephone. If that changes and real documents hit, I'll dig into the numbers, the regulatory path, and what it all means for the shows and movies you actually care about.