Netflix acquires Warner Bros. for $83 billion

[harlan4096]

Netflix has announced that it is acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. The deal is worth $82.7 Million.

This is a massive acquisition considering that Warner Bros. has tons of big name IPs including the DC Comics universe, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones to name a few.

Now, the most obvious question is, what's going to happen to HBO Max? Will Netflix let it continue as a separate service? Or will the content from it be merged into Netflix's platform? If the latter happens, it could result in a price increase for Netflix plans.

Netflix's announcement states that HBO and HBO Max "provide a compelling, complementary offering for consumers. Netflix expects to maintain Warner Bros. current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films."


 (Image courtesy: Netflix)

This is a sound business strategy. While merging Max and Netflix even at a slightly higher cost might attract more users, it could have an adverse effect on the current user base. It is way more profitable to let both platforms continue independently, which is what they are planning. And not releasing movies in theaters would be a financial disaster, so it's good that they are not making movies "Netflix-only".

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[jasonX]

This is a sort of bad news for cinema. Netflix will advocate streaming and will slowly kill cinema. Lots of people will loose their jobs. I hope Trump will check it out. Thanks for the news!

[harlan4096]

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