Netflix to buy Warner Bros. film and streaming assets in $72 billion deal

Netflix announced Friday it's reached a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing a swift end to a dramatic bidding process that saw Paramount Skydance and Comcast also vying for the legacy assets.

The transaction is comprised of cash and stock and is valued at $27.75 per WBD share, the companies said. That puts the total enterprise value of the transaction at approximately $82.7 billion, with an equity value of $72 billion.

Netflix will acquire WBD's film studio and streaming service, HBO Max. Warner Bros. Discovery will move forward with its spin out of Discovery Global, which includes its massive portfolio of pay TV networks, such as TNT and CNN, as previously planned.

The blockbuster deal brings together the streaming giant Netflix, which has upended the media industry in recent years and the storied film Warner Bros. film studio, known for its library including "The Wizard of Oz," the "Harry Potter" franchise and the DC comics universe that includes Superman and Batman. It will also add the content of HBO Max, including "The Sopranos" and "Game of Thrones."

"Our mission has always been to entertain the world," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO, in a news release Friday. "By combining Warner Bros.' incredible library of shows and movies—from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends—with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we'll be able to do that even better. Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling." 

The acquisition is expected to close after the TV networks separation takes place, now expected in the third quarter of 2026.

Shares of Netflix were down about 3% in premarket trading Friday. Shares of the newly merged Paramount Skydance were down about 2%, while shares of WBD were down about 1% and shares of Comcast were flat.

As part of the deal every Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder will receive $23.25 in cash and $4.50 in shares of Netflix common stock for each share of WBD common stock outstanding following the close of the deal.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.

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