{"id":515268,"date":"2026-03-03T04:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T04:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515268\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T04:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T04:46:07","slug":"the-winners-losers-and-trumps-man-in-the-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515268\/","title":{"rendered":"the winners, losers and Trump\u2019s man in the middle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Netflix\u2019s planned acquisition of Hollywood studio Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has fallen apart at the eleventh hour, as Paramount Skydance has made a \u201csuperior<\/a>\u201d proposal to buy the conglomerate for A$156 billion. <\/p>\n

While the independence of the companies following the acquisition is unclear, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has already discussed plans to merge the portfolios of streamers<\/a> Paramount+ and HBO Max to compete with Netflix. <\/p>\n

Netflix withdrew from the process following Paramount Skydance\u2019s proposal. It said<\/a> WBD would have been \u201c\u2018nice to have\u2019 at the right price, not a \u2018must have\u2019 at any price\u201d. <\/p>\n

Who were the winners and losers in this hotly contested bidding war? And what happens next?<\/p>\n

Winner #1: Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav<\/p>\n

Longtime Discovery cable network CEO David Zaslav engineered his company\u2019s merger with Warner Bros in 2022<\/a> to create Warner Bros Discovery. <\/p>\n

This merger also saw the combination of Discovery\u2019s reality content, Warner Bros\u2019 film library and HBO\u2019s quality TV series on the streaming service Max (now HBO Max), to challenge Netflix. <\/p>\n

But Max didn\u2019t live up to its name, as audiences for HBO originals such as The White Lotus showed little interest in Discovery shows like Dr Pimple Popper<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Unable to significantly lift WBD\u2019s share price, Zaslav initiated plans to separate<\/a> the failing cable assets, such as Discovery, from the streaming growth areas, such as HBO Max, in preparation to sell the company.<\/p>\n

Despite Zaslav facing continued criticism<\/a>, his gambit paid off, attracting high bidders for WBD. If the Paramount deal happens, Zaslav\u2019s personal WBD shares and equity will be valued at US$790.5 million<\/a> (A$1.2 billion).<\/p>\n

Zaslav, who recently extended his WBD contract through 2030<\/a>, will be a key figure in the transition, but his role after the sale remains unclear. <\/p>\n

Winner #2: David Ellison<\/p>\n

David Ellison is the head of Skydance Media and son of one of the world\u2019s richest men, Oracle<\/a> co-founder Larry Ellison. Ellison\u2019s Skydance Media acquired<\/a> the struggling Paramount Studios in 2024.<\/p>\n

While Paramount has some storied IP such as Star Trek, Captain Kirk is no match for the Warner Bros\u2019 cross-generational franchises \u2013 including Harry Potter, Batman and Looney Tunes. <\/p>\n

Factoring in Warner\u2019s coveted film library, premium HBO shows and the news might of CNN (also a division of WBD) to the Skydance Corporation, David Ellison is set to become one of the most powerful people in traditional media. <\/p>\n

Winner #3: Donald Trump<\/p>\n

Donald Trump is a longtime friend of Larry Ellison<\/a>. The US Federal Communications Commission\u2019s chairman, Brendan Carr, has openly praised<\/a> the conservative direction of CBS since David Ellison took over the parent company Paramount. Trump vowed to stay out<\/a> of the WBD sale.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was grilled<\/a> by Republican senators earlier this year over Netflix\u2019s \u201cwoke\u201d content. This senate hearing seemed to set the tone for what would have been a challenging regulatory process for Netflix to acquire WBD. <\/p>\n

While Netflix was facing political opposition, David Ellison was Republican stalwart Lindsey Graham\u2019s guest at<\/a> Trump\u2019s State of the Union address. Thus, WBD shareholders were assured the Paramount deal had Trump\u2019s tacit approval. <\/p>\n

Winner #4: Netflix<\/p>\n

Netflix stock declined<\/a> sharply since its plans to acquire WBD were announced in December<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Investors were nervous<\/a> about this unprecedented purchase, by a company whose playbook had been \u201cbuilders rather than buyers<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

News of Netflix\u2019s withdrawal from the WBD sale has seen the streaming giant\u2019s shares surge<\/a>. The company will also receive a US$2.8 billion termination fee<\/a>, paid by Ellison\u2019s Skydance. Netflix certainly won\u2019t leave the process empty handed.<\/p>\n

Loser #1: the creative community<\/p>\n

Despite concerns regarding a Netflix takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, there was comparatively little overlap between the companies. Unlike WBD, Netflix doesn\u2019t own linear and cable stations, make movies for cinema, or have a news division. <\/p>\n

Paramount and WBD, however, are near identical companies, albeit at different scales. The joining of these two Hollywood Studios will allow for what Ellison describes as \u201csynergies<\/a>\u201d \u2013 being interpreted as thousands of jobs lost<\/a> as duplicated departments across the two companies are combined and cut. <\/p>\n

Loser #2: audiences<\/p>\n

Ellison has promised to run the Warner Bros and Paramount film studios independently, and produce 30 films each year for cinema<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Audiences had similar hopes ahead of Disney\u2019s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. But since that deal, the combined Disney and 20th Century theatrical output has fallen by 46%<\/a>. A similar decline may occur if Warner Bros and Paramount end up under the same corporate umbrella.<\/p>\n

Also, while Ellison has produced dozens of films under Skydance Media, they have been a mixed bag \u2013 with a trashy Geostorm<\/a> for every crowd-pleasing Top Gun: Maverick. <\/p>\n

By contrast, Warner Bros is coming off a year-long hot streak<\/a> with Sinners, One Battle After Another and Weapons. Would such auteur-led films get made with David Ellison in charge?<\/p>\n

Loser #3: journalism<\/p>\n

Skydance\u2019s 2024 takeover of Paramount quickly resulted in editorial changes at the company\u2019s news division, as conservative political commentator Bari Weiss<\/a> was brought in as the CBS editor-in-chief. <\/p>\n

In the ensuing months senior CBS news producers have complained of \u201cpolitical bias<\/a>\u201d, with veteran broadcaster Anderson Cooper announcing he was leaving CBS\u2019s flagship news show 60 Minutes<\/a> amid the turmoil. <\/p>\n

There are concerns a similar conservative agenda may be brought to WBD news network CNN, leading to more ideological driven programming<\/a> across America\u2019s prominent news networks. <\/p>\n

What comes next?<\/p>\n

European and US lawmakers will review the deal<\/a> as concerns around merging two of the remaining five legacy Hollywood studios persist. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, most of the resistance<\/a> to the Netflix deal stemmed from the combining of the world\u2019s first and fourth biggest subscription video-on-demand services. As Skydance\u2019s Paramount+ is a smaller streamer, the company does not face the same anti-competitive arguments Netflix did. <\/p>\n

It is likely that by the time The Batman: Part II<\/a> lands in cinemas in 2027 the bottom of the Warner Bros logo will read \u201cA Skydance Corporation\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Netflix\u2019s planned acquisition of Hollywood studio Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has fallen apart at the eleventh hour, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-515268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}