Netflix faces Warner Bros. takeover - what does that mean now?

Luca Fontana

5/12/2025

Translation: machine translated

Netflix buys Warner Bros. and HBO. A deal the size of a titan that will shake up the global streaming market - and perhaps create the biggest media power since Hollywood's beginnings.

At the same time I wrote that the HBO Max launch in Switzerland felt like an «extraordinarily organised clusterfuck». Today we know: The clusterfuck is now global. Netflix has officially announced that it is taking over Warner Bros - including HBO and Warner's entire film and cinema catalogue. Purchase price: 82.7 billion dollars.

In other words, the global streaming market is about to undergo the biggest transformation it has ever seen.

This is what Netflix promises

Netflix emphasises in the official announcement that it intends to continue operating Warner Bros. «in its current form». This means that the Warner Bros. studios will remain in place, films will continue to be made and all previously planned productions will continue. At the same time, one of the most valuable catalogues in the entire history of film is moving into the hands of the world's largest streaming service.

This not only includes classics such as «Casablanca», «Inception» or «Citizen Kane». It also includes the billion-dollar franchises «Harry Potter», «The Lord of the Rings», the entire DC universe and, above all, perhaps the most prestigious TV catalogue of the last three decades: HBO. «The Sopranos», «The Wire», «Game of Thrones», «Succession», «The Last of Us», «IT» - all of this is to be owned by Netflix in the future.

Netflix talks about «more choice», «more value» and «more opportunities for creators». Behind these PR formulations lies one thing above all: the prospect of a streaming service that will have almost everything that counts in moving images in the future. And synergies in the billions that Netflix is already pricing in.

What Warner Bros. Discovery says

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner, sells the deal as a merger of two «storytelling giants». In reality, Warner had to sell. The group was heavily indebted, lacked strategic direction and had been stuck in restructuring for years.

The split into two companies - «Discovery Global» for the linear TV channels such as CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery and Eurosport, «Warner Bros.» for its film studio and HBO - was already an attempt to make the company more attractive to investors. Now the takeover by Netflix feels like a liberating blow - or like the end of an era that will make Netflix even more of an entertainment monopoly.

Depending on which perspective you look at it.

This is the (biggest) sticking point

This deal makes Netflix arguably the most powerful content owner in modern entertainment. No other supplier combines the most influential prestige series of the present day, the most iconic classics in film history, blockbuster franchises worth billions and an extremely profitable streaming ecosystem with hundreds of millions of subscribers under one roof.

In other words, there has never been such a concentration of film and series power in this form before - and it will keep antitrust investigators in the USA, Europe and other important markets around the world busy for years. And anyway, before the takeover is actually completed, the spin-off of Warner's TV channels (planned for the third quarter of 2026) and the approval of Warner shareholders are also required.

Netflix itself expects the process to take around 12 to 18 months. The takeover will therefore not be completed until the end of 2026 at the earliest, and possibly not until mid-2027. Only then will titles such as «White Lotus» or «Euphoria» officially move to Netflix. Until then, the status quo will remain - including HBO Max in Switzerland.

And what about everyone else?

Things are looking uncomfortable for some suppliers. Sky Europe is losing its most important prestige brand with HBO and will have to reinvent itself as an aggregator. Paramount+ loses a potential merger partner and threatens to slide further down the market.

Disney+, on the other hand, remains stable with its unique portfolio (Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel), but also somewhat isolated. Amazon and Apple, on the other hand, can sit back and relax: Both subsidise their streaming via their core businesses anyway - Apple via its hardware and the service bundle «Apple One», Amazon via «Prime». Streaming is a lure there, not a mandatory profit centre.

So the new reality is that if it wasn't already Netflix, the streaming giant would truly become a cinema and streaming titan following the acquisition of Warner Bros. and HBO, while everyone else would have to reposition themselves - or join forces.

A streaming market that was already shaky is now experiencing a real landslide. And we are right in the middle of it.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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