oh man and i thought netflix alrighty bought warner brothers last friday
News Netflix to buy Warner Brothers
- Thread starter the G-man
- Start date
Yeah, when it comes to mergers like this, none of them are great to begin with. Especially when it comes to legacy studios. I think a combined Paramount + WBD would be too big. One company owning two major studios would definitely make for an industry upset. And for crying out loud, Paramount just merged with Skydance. Don't be too greedy, Paramount.
No, that was merely their announcement that they had won the bid. It still has to go through the regulatory hurdles before it becomes approved, which would take at least a year or more. That's why Ellison thinks he can waltz in with some swagger and claim to offer a better deal. But what doesn't add up is that you would think Ellison would have had his say before the announcement that Netflix had won the bid. That's what makes Ellison's proposition a little fishy given the known details of the investment group backing him. It feels like a power grab.
More like David Ellison being too greedy.
"Daaad, I want a movie studio."
"You already have Skydance."
"That's a movie production company, I want a studio."
"*sigh* Alright, I guess Paramount is up for sale and we've been working with them a lot, you can have that."
"Yay!"
"So, you now have a movie studio. Satisfied?"
"But, Paramount isn't that successful. Their last big hit was the Top Gun sequel."
"First off, that's why they were up for sale. Second, they've had smaller hits, and the Mission: Impossible movies we made with them."
"But with the last two of them the budgets were way too big to make a profit."
"You okayed those budgets."
"Yeah, but also Tom is too old now to make any more."
"What exactly are you asking for?"
"I want a movie studio with big hits."
"Okay, well, Warner had a pretty big year, and despite that it looks like they'll split up the company next year to sell off."
"Next year?! But I want it now."
"It's just another year."
"I want it now!"
"But they're not ready to sell, yet."
"Nnnooowwww!!!!"
"ALRIGHT! Jesus, fine, let's make them an offer."
"Did it work?"
"Well, not exactly, they appear to open to sell, but now they've announced to be open for other offers."
"What? But I want it."
"Yeah, well, you couldn't wait another year, so we kind of started a bidding war. We'll have to pay way more now than we probably would have had next year."
"I want it! We need to make the highest bid."
"Look, I'm trying, but I don't know what the other parties will offer. I can talk to Donnie to make him say something to put the thumb on the scale for us, but that's far from sure to make us come out on top. Oh, look, now they've announced exclusive negotiations with Netflix."
"What? No! I want it."
"They don't care."
"Make them care! Call Uncle Donald again."
"I did, but he didn't like that our 60 Minute interview with Marjorie."
"What? I thought he liked Marjorie."
"Not anymore, apparently."
"Well, buy it anyway."
"Exclusive negotiations, son! You know what the word 'exclusive' means?"
"No?!"
"*sigh* Alright, we can go to the shareholders directly, I guess, tell them they were screwed and stuff. And you can go on the talk shows and whine about how unfair this all is and how our offer is way better."
"Can't you do that?"
"Son, you're a grown man, and I'm busy with other shit. Just take Tiktok, do you know how much work it is to censor all videos critical of Bibi? The least you can do is go on those talk shows."
"Oh, alright. But I'm really pissed."
"Well, that's the right mood to get our point across in those interviews."
"Fine, I was on TV. Do we get Warners now?"
"Well, despite them having agreed to give Netflix 2.8 billion dollars if they sell to anybody else but them, they are at least looking at our offer."
"Yay!"
"That doesn't mean they'll take our offer, they're just looking at it."
"... But I want it. Now!"
Yeah, pretty much. And any regulatory courts all over the world would be able to see they recently merged with another big company with a studio, and I don't think such a deal would pass muster. I think there is also more happening behind the scenes, and it all sounds very politically motivated. Pure speculation, but one possiblity is that it wasn't even Eillson's idea.