by Abb Jones
The Reelness

In a move that will drastically reshape the entertainment industry, Netflix and Warner Bros./Discovery have announced an agreement Friday under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and TV studios, HBO Max and HBO.

The $82.7 billion deal, which is still pending regulatory approval, came after a weeks-long bidding war that pitted streaming giant Netflix against billionaire David Ellison’s rival Paramount Skydance and Comcast.

Netflix says it expects to maintain current Warner Bros. operations and build on its strengths, including more theatrical releases for films. Netflix says it also will keep HBO Max as a streaming service, while touting the addition of HBO content to the Netflix lineup. The transaction is expected to close after Warner Bros./Discovery’s separation of Discovery Global, which includes CNN, TNT Sports and Discovery+ into a newly publicly-traded company in the third quarter of 2026.