WBD Acquisition Thread

[AetherOps]

So what happens now?

 

[JulianRO]

 

[awinger24]

So it’s over. PSKY wins and more layoffs will happen.

 

[the greenman]

You would think Paramount buying WBD is more monopolies. Especially if Paramount tries to merge with Universal.

Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk

 

[AetherOps]

Is there any Netflix or WBD can do?

 

[zakawer2]

So it’s over. PSKY wins and more layoffs will happen.

It's not over yet. There's always the chance that Paramount also fails to acquire WBD. Remember: both bids are risky in and of themselves—potentially even more than the WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. merger that led to the establishment of Warner Bros. Discovery.

 

[AetherOps]

It's not over yet. There's always the chance that Paramount also fails to acquire WBD. Remember: both bids are risky in and of themselves—potentially even more than the WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. merger that led to the establishment of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Given how much the administration is doing to help Paramount acquire WBD, I doubt any will would be about monopoly Paramount will have

 

[JulianRO]

Netflix Officially Under DOJ Antitrust Scrutiny “To Create A Monopoly” With Warner Bros Merger; Feds Want Details From Producers & Filmmakers On Streamer’s Leverage

The white gloves may have truly come off in Netflix and Paramount's multibillion-dollar battle for Warner Bros. Discovery.

deadline.com

Looks like Netflix got officially in trouble.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

Mod note: Lately there has been a lot of posts that simply have links, tweets, or images with no explanations or commentary. From now on all posts need to contain at least one sentence of commentary. Even something as simple as “look at what I saw on X” will suffice.

 

[awinger24]

RIP WB. Paramount is in position to acquire all of WB. Netflix will lose and WB is entirely doomed. Probably the worst merger in Hollywood history.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Gasparino is a Trump shill, my friend.

 

[AetherOps]

Gasparino is a Trump shill, my friend.

So wait, Everything this guy has been saying so far has just been him blowing smoke?
And Paramount hasn't won't yet?

 

[Moe]

I'm back from break and whoa, this thread became doomed discussion that is going to exasperating the members who want to discuss about real M&A issues.

Make a doomed statements aren't going to help with your case and it make you more disappointed. Please could you all calm down. I would be appreciate you to focus on real discussion.

It is apparently that some of you don't realize about Netflix has powerful and advantageous tool is outbid Paramount significantly, so it would force Paramount to end the battle and if they didn't, it would be pyrrhic victory for Paramount with massive and overwhelmed of debt that wouldn't get a better nor capable to pay off. It means Netflix basically made Paramount to take very massive debt because of nasty M&A battle. It would lead to more problems like infighting with Paramount shareholders if Ellison is unable to manage two major studios and fail to follow the promises, so unable to generate enough revenues to pay the debt down.

As for regulators, Netflix has a lot of lawyers to deal with DOJ and federal courts tend to side with corporations over federal government. It took very long for AT&T to settle the antitrust lawsuit with DOJ that led to breakup, so breakup created more problems and it didn't lower the telephone rate. Corporations are well aware of history that involved with AT&T, so repeat of AT&T breakup style under Section 2 is very unlikely and it was hard enough back in 1970s and early 1980s, let alone, today with Telecommunications Act of 1996 and few other laws in place. As for strategic reason, Netflix is going to work with oversea regulators first and they will deal with DOJ after all of oversea regulators give the approval with M&A. Microsoft-Activision case exposed the weakness with federal regulators, so Netflix definitely will use this case as reference.

You have to remember about Trump Admin tried to block the AT&T-WB acquisition on political ground (due to CNN) and it didn't end well for Trump Admin, however AT&T-WB faced many of other problems, especially very heavy debt and infighting within AT&T and horrible mismanagement with WB. If Netflix heavily outbid by give a lot of money and if Netflix is clever enough to defeat the DOJ to get finalized, so WBD shareholders wouldn't mind to wait.

Given how much the administration is doing to help Paramount acquire WBD, I doubt any will would be about monopoly Paramount will have

There are few scenarios about why zakawer2 said about neither get it.

Scenario #1 - Netflix outbid Paramount significantly like $45 per share to make unaffordable and unsustainable for Paramount, so Paramount end the battle. Netflix fighting with regulators, so if federal government manage to win the court case and Netflix wouldn't able to get WBD. Vice versa with oversea regulators.

Scenario #2 - If Paramount win the bid and if oversea regulators block the acquisition, so Paramount wouldn't get WBD. There is other way with shareholder initialed lawsuit to block the acquisition. Not sure about lawsuit from customers.

Scenario #3 - If Paramount continue to fight and won with $48 per share, so it would lead to infighting with Paramount shareholders that could derail the acquisition and they wouldn't able to get WBD if new board decide to end the M&A and pay breakup cost that is cheaper than take massive debt.

WBD would be on own if those happens.

So wait, Everything this guy has been saying so far has just been him blowing smoke?
And Paramount hasn't won't yet?

Right, Paramount didn't win and you have to disregard highly opinionated trivial news, so you have to wait for breaking news like Netflix outbid, Paramount outbid or shareholder vote.

It take a lot of time for M&A to settle.

Gasparino is a Trump shill, my friend.

Thank you, I got tired of trivial news popped up.

Members in here need to calm down and let Netflix to deal with it, so Netflix know to do.

Of course, it is slow paced for sure and Netflix want to know about Paramount's tactics.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

So wait, Everything this guy has been saying so far has just been him blowing smoke?
And Paramount hasn't won't yet?

That and Paramount keeps spreading misinformation just to steal WB from Netflix.

 

[lowell]

We're talking of Paramount, masters of closing successful channels (like Game One) and doing questionable moves (like destroying MTV Germany).
So, maybe they can dip out of Sky Showtime and start launching P+ everywhere it doesn't exist.

It's up to their & Comcast's discretions because they each can decide to pull their investments out of SkyShowtime whenever they want to.

But isn't the actual proper Peacock service exclusive to the United States? And also, how on earth is Paramount even supposed to launch Paramount+ in the current SkyShowtime markets in Europe if the situation on the ground ever somehow changes (even in Nordic countries, where Paramount+ was outright replaced with SkyShowtime)?

Besides, I just have the feeling that Peacock and Paramount+ as hypothetical independent streaming services in much of Europe could somehow end up with smaller libraries compared to SkyShowtime's current library. Plus, people paying for SkyShowtime subscriptions (like me) and ad revenue from users subscribed to the ad-supported tier will always be a constant source of revenue for the streaming service, especially as subscriber numbers grow over time!

No, Peacock's not exclusive to any territory, they just hit pause on the international expansion plans and haven't revived it yet.

Paramount+ rolling out to current SkyShowtime markets would just be like HBO Max's European launch after the Sky licensing deal expired.

On Peacock's library, Comcast has $9B of cash to spend right now so they can do bite-size purchases right now just to boost the service and NBCUniversal as a whole.

SkyShowtime would probably need to expand to all of Europe just to get to profitability and it doesn't make sense either partner gives up their own foothold in major markets just to prop up a joint-venture that's bring out losses.

 

[JulianRO]

https://puck.news/netflix-killer-theory-wbd-deal-as-anti-competitive-weapon/

"Meanwhile, WBD has hired Daniel Petrocelli, from O’Melveny & Myers, to help defend against a potential D.O.J. lawsuit. Petrocelli, you’ll recall, famously beat the feds when they tried to thwart the AT&T-WarnerMedia deal—a showdown that pitted him against Makan Delrahim, who was the antitrust chief under Trump 1.0."

So there is still hope, but it's going to last longer than we were expecting. Everything depends also on the March 20 shareholders's votes.

 

[Insidus]

I think Netflix is the better option as Paramount's acquisition will only lead to more cuts. With Netflix, Cartoon Network stands to benefit from the whole arrangement with an increased slate of content I can only imagine that with their buyout we'd finally get that KND spinoff, Courage prequel series etc. I feel like Paramount will just be another AT&T and Warner or better yet Discovery and Warner.

Do people really want Paramount a company that owns Nickelodeon that passed on shows like Adventure Time and Phineas And Ferb?

 

[Two Two's]

If the second incarnation of Discovery Global is to happen, will the rights for the Cartoon Network shows switch hands to this new company? They are tied to the network.

 

[JulianRO]

There will surely be an agreement or some sort of contract to keep the rights to the series.

 

[zakawer2]

If the second incarnation of Discovery Global is to happen, will the rights for the Cartoon Network shows switch hands to this new company? They are tied to the network.

Most likely not. The three main animation production studios responsible for most of Cartoon Network's original programming—Cartoon Network Studios, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe and of course Warner Bros. Animation—are all part of the Warner Bros. Television Group, which is of course expected to be part of post-separation Warner Bros.