Netflix just showed the entertainment industry it's done playing defense. The streaming giant upgraded its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery to an all-cash deal worth $83 billion, with shareholders set to vote by April 2026.
The new terms pay $27.75 per share in cash—eliminating the stock-price uncertainty that plagued the original December agreement. Translation: Ted Sarandos and company want this deal done, and they're willing to pay a premium for certainty.
According to Variety, the acquisition includes Warner Bros.' film and television studios, HBO, HBO Max, and the gaming division. The cable networks—CNN, TNT, TBS, HGTV, and the rest of that aging portfolio—will be spun off as a separate entity called Discovery Global. Smart move. Netflix doesn't need linear TV dragging down its balance sheet.
What they do need is what Warner Bros. has spent a century building: IP. Real, enduring, multigenerational intellectual property. Harry Potter. The Lord of the Rings. The entire DC Universe. HBO's prestige programming apparatus. This isn't Netflix buying a streaming competitor—it's Netflix buying Hollywood itself.
Ted Sarandos framed it as expanding "U.S. production capacity and investment in original programming." Which is corporate-speak for: "We're tired of renting other studios' soundstages and buying shows piecemeal. We want to own the entire supply chain."
The deal also serves as a defensive maneuver against Paramount Skydance's hostile $30-per-share bid. By offering $27.75 in guaranteed cash versus a speculative higher number dependent on stock performance, Netflix is betting shareholders prefer certainty to hope.
Closing is expected 12-18 months after the original December 2025 signing. If approved, this will fundamentally reshape the entertainment landscape. Netflix entered the streaming wars as the disruptor. Now it's becoming the empire it once fought against.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything—except when a company puts $83 billion in cash on the table. Then you know they're serious.
