Netflix executives are becoming more and more against Paramount’s offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery says that if the deal goes through, billions of jobs will be lost. In a recent interview with Fox Business, Netflix’s Clete Williams said that Paramount Skydance’s projected $6 billion in synergies would mean huge layoffs, possibly more than that, in what could be the biggest leveraged buyout ever. He compared this to Netflix’s own all-cash deal to buy Warner Bros. for $83 billion, which focuses on creating jobs instead of cutting them.
Last December, Netflix made a deal with Warner Bros. to combine HBO, HBO Max, and Warner’s movie and TV studios. The deal promised to keep the way movies are released in theaters and create jobs. Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, the co-CEOs, said the move would “create and safeguard jobs” in Hollywood. They said they would save $2–3 billion by making licensing more efficient instead of cutting staff. At the same time, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance made a hostile tender offer, saying that buying all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its cable assets, would add $18 billion in shareholder value.
Williams pointed out that Paramount had recently cut 3,500 jobs and said that their “Noah’s Ark problem” of having too many employees would force even more cuts after the merger. Analysts agree, saying that at least 6,000 jobs will be lost under Paramount and production will go down, making Hollywood’s problems after the strike and pandemic even worse. Netflix says it is the job protector, pointing out that it hired 140,000 people to work on original shows from 2020 to 2024. However, unions like the WGA and Teamsters are worried about the cost-cutting plans of both bidders.
The U.S. Department of Justice will likely look closely at any Paramount-Warner deal to see if it will hurt competition. Netflix is hiring state attorneys general to help them make their case. The board of Warner Bros. turned down Paramount’s offer as “inadequate.” Shareholders may vote on Netflix’s offer by March. The outcome of the bidding war could change streaming, studios, and thousands of jobs in Hollywood.
