Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. for $82.7 Billion - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 December 2025 / 5,313 Views
Netflix announced it is acquiring entertainment giant Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion (equity value of $72.0 billion).
The acquisition is expected to go through after the separation of Warner Bros. Discovery's Global Networks division, Discovery Global, into a new publicly traded company, which is expected to be completed in Q3 2026.
Once completed Netflix will own all of Warner Bros. that includes multiple TV and movie franchises like the The Big Bang Theory, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Wizard of Oz and the DC Universe. HBO and HBO Max is also included.
Warner Bros. Games and its subsidiaries will also be owned by Netflix. This includes Avalanche Software, NetherRealm Studios, Portkey Games, Rocksteady Studios, TT Games, WB Games Boston, WB Games Montreal, WB Games New York, and WB Games San Francisco.
Avalanche Software developed Hogwarts Legacy, NetherRealm Studios is known for the Mortal Kombat franchise, Rocksteady Studios developed the Batman Arkham games, and TT Games is known for developing Lego games.
It isn't known what the deal means for Warner Bros. Games as the press release makes no mention of video games. Netflix does have some smaller more mobile style games available on its subscription service.
"Our mission has always been to entertain the world," said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. "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."
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters added, "This acquisition will improve our offering and accelerate our business for decades to come. Warner Bros. has helped define entertainment for more than a century and continues to do so with phenomenal creative executives and production capabilities. With our global reach and proven business model, we can introduce a broader audience to the worlds they create—giving our members more options, attracting more fans to our best-in-class streaming service, strengthening the entire entertainment industry and creating more value for shareholders."
Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav stated, "Today’s announcement combines two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world to bring to even more people the entertainment they love to watch the most. For more than a century, Warner Bros. has thrilled audiences, captured the world’s attention, and shaped our culture. By coming together with Netflix, we will ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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May God helps us all...
California first please
Well that's not good. But the way WB been running and seeing what they've been releasing lately, this comes as no surprise.
The choices, like it or not, were Netflix, Skydance, Comcast, and Prince Bonesaw. Netflix was probably the least bad option here, followed by Comcast. Skydance (Trump's favored suitor, owned by Larry Ellison's son David) has already turned Paramount/CBS into MAGA mouthpieces, and Prince Bonesaw's coffers are rumored to have been depleted by his buyout of EA.
I suppose it's been a couple of years since the last ridiculously high value acquisition/merger, we were due for another one.
Maybe the next one will be Disney acquiring, just to mix things a little bit!
Disney needs broken up.
Disney sucks, I cancelled my subscription awhile back, try very hard to avoid their movies and products.
Dude, Ubisoft is not being sold, I thought that misinfo was cleared up months ago.
These latest rumors are from just 3 weeks ago when Ubi halted trading of their stock and delayed their earnings report (both are extremely rare from big companies). It does not look like they will be acquired, though Tencent continues to slowly increase their stake in Ubi. Trading resumed 2 weeks ago. So mostly debunked, but not months ago.
I wonder if that's the end of HBO in the future, and if it is does will Netflix still continue it's cancel shows after 3 seasons trend.
The only nice thing is that all of the films and shows owned by warner bros will be all in one place. Unfortunately the quality of everything they make will probably decline massively
This sucks. Worried about AEW now.
At least it wasn't Disney... but still
Or worse yet, Nepo Baby Ellison. He’s turned Paramount and CBS into MAGA clown shows.
That is not a good thing imo..... Netflix loves all the race/sex swapping, and making up new scripts instead of sticking to the books ect. Historical takes, that are not based on real facts.... but "my momma always said". They are gonna f*** up all those IP's.
Feels like this might be a wrap on Old Hollywood
Warner has been owned by outside companies for decades. They spent two decades being owned by America Online.
Old Hollywood died a long time ago...
Is Zaslav out of the picture now, at least?
No. He will still run WB and has been promised a position at Netdlix post acquisition.
-__-
Let’s be honest. Any company that’s rich enough to buy WB, would be disappointing news once the sale was announced. There was no “happy ending” to this.
Indeed, like do people expect a relatively unknown company or rich non-media company to come up with 80bil to buy a (risky) media giant like WB?
Optimally, WB would have been well-run enough to stand on its own feet, but that hasn't actually been the case for decades. Ever since it was bought by Seven Arts in the 1960s, outside companies have owned WB.
Great, more price increases coming
How can there be zero mention of "Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver"? The blasphemous turd knuckles!
Hopefully they are least get rid of David Zaslaav and stop cancelling every animated project at Warner Bros.
He's there until at least 2030, sadly. Hopefully, Reed Hastings sees the value of legacy Warner Bros. animated properties like Looney Tunes and reinstates them on Netflix/HBO, and stops dumping Looney Tunes movies as tax write-offs.
Ugh, it's like we're never getting rid of that worthless cocksucker. He's worse than Bob Iger. -_-
Oh boy.
Update: Trump is threatening to block the Netflix deal, and Nepo Baby is attempting a hostile take over. Trump will likely fast-track approval of this acquisition.
Here comes MAGA Bros. Aquaman is going to blow up fishing boats in South America, and Batman is going to be rounding up brown people.
So yeah, that's going to be much, much worse than Netflix buying the company.
The monopoly begins, actually began a very long time now haha
Would rather any saudi arabian takeover than netflix
Why?
