Netflix tried holding out, but eventually gave up on acquiring Warner Bros. Now, that “honor” goes to Paramount, and the streamer’s left licking its wounds and talking about why it backed out after fighting so hard for WB in the first place.
As CEO Ted Sarandos recently told Bloomberg, his company had a “very tight range” of money that could be spent, and one revealed early into the acquisition process. Paramount, on the other hand, kept increasing its offers and made moves he admittered were “unusual and irrational.” Once last week’s offer came in, Sarandos knew he was beat and made his peace with it. All he hopes for now is the Department of Justice to play fair and scrutinize Paramount and CEO David Ellison equally as it did him.
Lest you think this was all some scheme to put Paramount in more debt, Sarandos made clear that Netflix “definitely wanted” WB, even if it didn’t have a real need for it. (And in his words, “there’s easier ways to make $2.8 billion.” With how things have been for Hollywood lately, no one was looking forward to one of the last big studios getting gobbled up. We all know what’s coming if Paramount gets the money to seal the deal, and so does Sarandos: cuts “in the excess of $16 billion,” which means “less production, less people working.”
At the moment, Paramount’s seeking regulatory approval to buy Warner Bros. Meanwhile, Netflix has $2.8 billion from Paramount’s breakup fee and isn’t looking to do any more acquisitions in the near future. What it does want to do is use its new relationship with movie theaters to put its work on the big screen and “do a bunch of cool things” it couldn’t before, like putting One Piece in theaters next week.
