It was early December when we learned how Netflix was tentatively set to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Then, Paramount and its owner, David Ellison, threw a fit. The son of the sixth-richest man in the World (Larry Ellison), he utilized various resources and launched a hostile takeover. It seemed doomed, but Paramount kept chipping away at the seeming all-but-assured victory of Netflix with big offers, whining to Trump's administration (the Ellisons are friendly with Trump due to giving him lots of money at various points), and otherwise being a pain. Like a toxic lovebomber that WBD knew it should avoid but couldn't help but listen to, WBD ended up being won over by all the promises. Paramount was confirmed to have a superior offer, with Netflix given four days to make its own new-and-improved bid for WBD. Well, Netflix said, "Nope," and left, awaiting the guaranteed 2.8 billion that was promised if it didn't acquire WBD-Paramount will foot that hefty bill to Netflix if everything goes through.
The mood at Warner Bros. Discovery is less than jovial. I mean, this is really a case of one super-big company simply losing to another, but there seemed to be more optimism with Netflix involved. There was definitely a lot less political/ethical/moral baggage than with Ellison and all the B.S. pulled with CBS lately (from the hiring of Bari Weiss to the supposedly purely financial firing of Stephen Colbert). Plus, DC's movies and comics are owned by WBD. How will all this impact them? I mean, we don't know, but we imagine not in a good way. It looks silly to be cheering for one megacorporation while booing the other, but things really did appear to be on a better track for Warner Bros. Discovery with Netflix acquiring it as opposed to Paramount. Nothing is set in stone yet, and someone else could very well try to swoop in and snatch victory from Paramount's hands in the same manner they did to Netflix. For now, however, this looks kind of sucky, to put it in a blunt manner.
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