The real winners and losers in epic Hollywood – Business News
We all know that Paramount Skydance lastly gained the bidding warfare for Warner Bros. Discovery. But who was the real winner in this takeover tussle of the century?
The epic, six-month tango between some of the most important gamers in media for the proprietor of the Warner Bros. studio, HBO Max streamer and CNN got here to a suitably beautiful end late Thursday – though common readers of this column most likely weren’t too stunned.
Let’s begin with Netflix and its co-CEO Ted Sarandos, the architect of the streaming giant’s thwarted bid to snare WBD. Until simply days in the past, he had remained the official frontrunner. Ted can best be described as each a winner and a loser.
Until simply days in the past, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos had remained the official frontrunner. Getty Images
He’s a winner right here for the straightforward motive that he walked away, albeit after heaps of drama. That’s as a result of Netflix didn’t need to do that deal. Shares of Netflix soared more than 10% after I posted on my X feed that Netflix was going to cave.
Deals like this aren’t how Netflix grew to become one of the largest and most profitable media firms ever created. It has grown organically. Yet Sarandos spent months cobbling collectively mountains of debt whereas inviting regulatory scrutiny. By dropping out, Sarandos can go back to building his business.
Now right here’s why Sarandos is a loser: He went there. Why this seasoned media mogul thought all this was a good deal for shareholders (he misplaced $200 billion in market worth during negotiations) – and why he thought he had a shot with the Trump antitrust cops in combining the No. 1 and No. 3 streamers – continues to be a thriller.
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It’s additionally nonetheless unclear if the feds have utterly dropped their early Section 2 Sherman Act monopoly inquiry into Netflix’s already highly effective measurement and its capability to squeeze customers.
Then there’s David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. He’s a clear winner. I’ve identified Zas for years, when he toiled by means of the infrastructure of NBCUniversal, then decamped as CEO of Discovery Inc.
He acquired his huge break operating a bona fide media conglomerate in 2022 when AT&T spun out Warner Media and his mentor, the legendary John Malone, organized a new company combining it with Discovery and making Zas its CEO. He acquired off to a rocky begin, taking heat for value cuts as a result of of all of the debt concerned, and for not delivering on outcomes.
WBD CEO David Zaslav flanked by Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters and Sarandos earlier than Netflix bowed out. Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison now sits on high of one of the largest media firms in the world. Getty Images
But slowly, Zas started to rebuild what’s now Warner Bros. Discovery. In 2025, his company was poised for one thing huge, however you wouldn’t realize it from its stock price. Then magic occurred: first, an unsolicited bid by Paramount Skydance at $18 a share when his stock was at round $12.
Then he went to work dangling WBD in entrance of a who’s who of media and tech firms He acquired lots of curiosity till there have been simply two, Netflix and Paramount Skydance. Zas needed no less than $30 a share, and people laughed. Earlier this week, he acquired his quantity plus a buck as Paramount Skydance swooped in with a $31 a share, $80.5 billion offer.
Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison can also be a winner, and not only for pulling off the defining media deal of his era. He additionally displayed the knowledge to put one of the best media dealmakers in the business, Gerry Cardinale, in charge of his pursuit of WBD.
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Ellison is the son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, who supplied financial backing for the deal, so it’s tempting to put in writing him off as a fortunate sperm child. I’m right here to let you know he’s good and insightful and is aware of what he doesn’t know. He began with a small indie movie producer, noticed the depressed values in media and snapped up Paramount, with its studio, low-ranked streamer and once-prominent CBS unit.
Now, Ellison sits on high of one of the largest media firms in the world. He snared what regarded like a white whale by taking part in the long recreation: lawsuits difficult WBD’s initial choice to sell to Netflix, hostile bids and lots of acrimony. Yes, there’s heaps of debt in this deal, and there might be value slicing. But as I see it Ellison actually didn’t overpay on the finish.
People thought he would use his dad’s money to win by throwing $34 a share at Zas however he stopped at $31. The motive: Gerry Cardinale, the best bidding-war banker in the business. He additionally listened to his GC, Makan Delrahim, and pops and didn’t overpay. Cardinale & Co., noticed the regulatory shoals confronted by Netflix, and knew the investor sentiment had begun as a result of of the Netflix funny-money guarantees with a cable spinoff.
Yes, there’s heaps of debt in this deal, and there might be value slicing. But as I see it Ellison actually didn’t overpay on the finish. AFP by way of Getty Images
If Ellison is a winner, so is Cardinale, and the people he had round him.
Elsewhere, one other winner is PSKY’s reliably good and accessible flack, Melissa Zuckerman; one other loser: Netflix board member and partisan Democrat Susan Rice who irritated the White House with some dumb feedback about Trump on the worst doable time.
But if these are the newest scores, indications are that the arduous half could also be what comes subsequent, as this new media giant, no matter it’s referred to as, weighs painful value cuts and rejiggering to remain aggressive. Stay tuned for the following crop of winners and losers.
