Netflix buying Warner Bros or maybe Paramount is buying Warner Bros? Update: Netflix drops out

[StoneColdHeel]

I feel like this will go to court for some reason and Paramount will lose because anything Trump is for almost always loses in court.

 

[sringwal]

Yeah, Netflix would be a lot better for DC and the HBO shows. A lot more people have Netflix than Paramount+. I don't see enough people adding Paramount+ because of the deal for them to make their money back from buying WB Discovery. You know Paramount is going to raise the subscription price, too.

Maybe, but that is not what I am talking about.

Why Do Conservatives Think Paramount Is The Conservative White Knight?

Paramount's alleged conservativism reads as a lot of wishful thinking.

www.forbes.com

 

[NOVAHEEL13]

Welp, John Oliver on HBOmax will need to find a new home

 

[1moretimeagain]

I hope HBO is kept separate, but maybe this will get me a season I’ve been hoping for: The White Lotus - Palm Beach, FL

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Ironic that it's being reported on CNN, as CNN is a Warner property and one that you know Trumpers are salivating to get their hands on. The moment that CNN comes under Ellison's control it will be gutted the same way CBS News was, and it will also move sharply to the right, just like CBS News. We're about to be living in a media universe where only MSNBC among the major players has not become a MAGA Fox lite news network.

 

[Kingpin]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/26/media/netflix-ted-sarandos-trump-white-house-paramount-wbd

Netflix dropped out after saying the Paramount bid was superior and blah blah. Eff the Ellisons.

NPR was reporting that the new Paramount bid was backed (sweetened) by Middle East money-don’t remember which country.

 

[Rock]

NPR was reporting that the new Paramount bid was backed (sweetened) by Middle East money-don’t remember which country.

I’m sure. I guess the only hope is that in a couple years time, when the Trump presidency has become too toxic to be associated with, this all comes crashing down.

 

[eternalheel]

Ppl of a certain age remember monopolies were illegal, very bad for the country, its ppl and competition. Let me guess, white nationalist 'murica gave that away too....?

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

It’s crazy. Paramount is acquiring a company 10x its size by market cap and loading it up with $90 billion of debt.

Netflix can step aside and wait to snap up the pieces when this thing collapses under its own weight. But in the meantime, CNN (which Netflix wasn’t even going to buy) and CBS will merge into some sort of mini-Fox I guess.

CBS has long wanted to acquire CNN to gain a cable news foothold. It may be that most of the CBS News teams and all of Trump’s enemies in front of the camera at CNN will be out.

 

[superrific]

It’s crazy. Paramount is acquiring a company 10x its size by market cap and loading it up with $90 billion of debt.

Netflix can step aside and wait to snap up the pieces when this thing collapses under its own weight. But in the meantime, CNN (which Netflix wasn’t even going to buy) and CBS will merge into some sort of mini-Fox I guess.

CBS has long wanted to acquire CNN to gain a cable news foothold. It may be that most of the CBS News teams and all of Trump’s enemies in front of the camera at CNN will be out.

It always boggles my mind that they can find banks to lend into deals that are obviously shit. I get the mismatched incentives of bankers and banks, but come on. What is the interest coverage ratio on this thing?

 

[Calheel]

It always boggles my mind that they can find banks to lend into deals that are obviously shit. I get the mismatched incentives of bankers and banks, but come on. What is the interest coverage ratio on this thing?

When some of those banks are Middle East sovereign funds, the mystery becomes a little clearer.

 

[nycfan]

It always boggles my mind that they can find banks to lend into deals that are obviously shit. I get the mismatched incentives of bankers and banks, but come on. What is the interest coverage ratio on this thing?

TBD but one reason WB is on the market is its current interest coverage below 1.0x (perhaps well below depending on the analyst). It appears WB may currently have interest coverage of about 0.73x with between $35-$40B of borrowed money (about $65B in liabilities). Hard to see how the combined Paramount/WB can carry more than twice the borrowed debt and survive. The financing must have crazy synergy and similar add-backs to EBITDA etc. (that will have to result in massive layoffs in the combined companies) to stay in compliance in the near term, but I would expect pretty steep step-ups in minimum interest coverage for a deal this out of whack.

 

[sringwal]

I feel like all of the paranoid obscenely wealthy people across the world who believed in the “Illuminati/New World Order” have all found each other and, you know, actually created one.

 

[superrific]

TBD but one reason WB is on the market is its current interest coverage below 1.0x (perhaps well below depending on the analyst). It appears WB may currently have interest coverage of about 0.73x with between $35-$40B of borrowed money (about $65B in liabilities). Hard to see how the combined Paramount/WB can carry more than twice the borrowed debt and survive. The financing must have crazy synergy and similar add-backs to EBITDA etc. (that will have to result in massive layoffs in the combined companies) to stay in compliance in the near term, but I would expect pretty steep step-ups in minimum interest coverage for a deal this out of whack.

What types of step-ups?

 

[superrific]

When some of those banks are Middle East sovereign funds, the mystery becomes a little clearer.

Well, yes, in this case. But I was talking in general. Lots of PE deals that were obviously bad went belly up, with banks often taking big writedowns.