Concrete negotiations: Netflix wants to buy Warner Bros.
Will HBO Max soon belong to Netflix? The US streaming service and Warner Bros. are negotiating the acquisition of the film division.
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Netflix wants to buy the film division of Warner Bros. Discovery: According to a report by Bloomberg, both parties are currently in concrete, exclusive negotiations. This means that Netflix seems to have prevailed against other potential buyers, at least for now.
A possible deal could be announced within a few days, reports Bloomberg. Should an acquisition then fail due to regulators, Netflix would be prepared to pay 5 billion US dollars in compensation to Warner Bros. Discovery.
The film division of Warner Bros. Discovery includes, among others, the television and streaming provider HBO, which is behind many of the most famous series of recent decades – including "Game of Thrones", "The Wire", and "Succession". HBO operates its own streaming service in the US called HBO Max, which is also set to launch in Germany on January 13th.
Spin-off of news media
Warner Bros. Discovery currently includes classic news media such as CNN, TBS, and TNT. These channels are to be spun off before the acquisition, meaning they would not be transferred to Netflix, reports Bloomberg. This could allow the acquisition to avoid additional scrutiny by the US media regulatory authority, FCC. Nevertheless, the deal is likely to be intensively examined by antitrust authorities.
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If Netflix and Warner Bros. reach an agreement, it would have extensive implications for the streaming market: Netflix, the world's largest streaming service, could supplement its portfolio with well-known HBO brands. It is unclear what a Warner acquisition would mean for the future of HBO Max – but it is quite conceivable that Netflix would continue to market the streaming service separately, without integrating the content into its own service.
In addition to Netflix, Paramount and Comcast are also interested in acquiring Warner Bros. According to Bloomberg, Netflix would be willing to pay 30 US dollars per share for Warner Bros. This would result in a valuation of approximately 75 billion US dollars.
(dahe)
