I had bet my imaginary chips on Paramount getting WBD with all of its Trump butt licking, and as Matt Belloni at Puck News points out this morning, that outcome is still possible. The deal includes a $2.8 billion payout to Netflix if Warner Bros. Discovery sells to someone else. But if the Ellisons decide they want it badly enough, they have the resources to outbid Netflix with an offer around $80 billion — with the $2.8 billion penalty just the cost of doing business.
Belloni also notes that the Trump butt licking could still pay off for Paramount if regulators suddenly sprout antitrust wings and block the deal. Already, Trumpy Senator Mike Lee, who chairs the relevant committee, has expressed grave concerns — putting him in bed with the likes of Elizabeth Warren. Hollywood’s creative community is freaking out at the loss of a traditional, theatrical‑minded studio. But as others have pointed out, no matter who bought WBD, contraction in the theatrical business was inevitable. Paramount wasn’t going to run two parallel studios; at best, output might have ticked up slightly, but job losses and content cuts were always baked in from the moment of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Zaslav’s mandate was simply to reduce debt enough to make the company sellable — and he’s done just that. As Belloni wrote: “And once again, a remarkable turn of events for Zaz, who in more than three years, managed Warner Discovery from $24 a share down to around $7 or $8, only to be rescued by this sale [with a share price of about $27.75]. The guy destroyed so much value and so many jobs to save his flailing Discovery Communications, all while keeping his eye on his own outsize compensation, and he’ll probably end up with well over $100 million in additional winnings and either a cushy role at the new company or a spot on the Netflix board. Kinda unbelievable.” Sent from Gmail Mobile On Fri, 5 Dec 2025 at 5:49 AM 'Bob F' via TVorNotTV < [email protected]> wrote: > Soon we will learn how close to POTUS Sarandos is... > > https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/business/warner-brothers-discovery-netflix.html > (link) > > B > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/68e4cff7-fec5-4654-bf11-bb0157a1c487n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/68e4cff7-fec5-4654-bf11-bb0157a1c487n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkY%2Bpm7R13NW5ehwt759Y6RN-90q6mk-PyHGn8ohVmFTEfQ%40mail.gmail.com.
