Dealmakers are heading into the final weeks of 2025 on a $100 billion cliffhanger.Paramount Skydance Corp.’s hostile bid to snatch Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. from under the nose of Netflix Inc. encapsulates the themes that have shaped a banner year for mergers and acquisitions: renewed desire for transformative tie-ups, massive checks from Wall Street, the flow of Middle East money and US President Donald Trump’s role as both disruptor and dealmaker.Global transaction values have risen around 40% to about ...

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Photographer: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images OpenAI is getting access to Disney’s kingdom without cutting a check. The artificial intelligence company’s recent deal to license iconic characters from Walt Disney Co. for its Sora video app is entirely in stock warrants rather than a cash licensing fee, according to people familiar with the matter. OpenAI will offer Disney the option to purchase shares in the high-flying startup beyond its previously announced $1 billion stake. Most Read from Bloomberg The t ...

By Milana Vinn Dec 15 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs is restructuring its influential technology, media, and telecom (TMT) investment banking group with an eye ​toward infrastructure deals and artificial intelligence, creating two new teams ‌with new leaders, according to the internal memo seen by Reuters. The bank is combining its ‌telecom and "CoreTech" teams to form a new Global Infrastructure Technology sector. The unit will be co-headed by partners Yasmine Coupal and Jason Tofsky. Coupal, a partner sinc ...

Not to put it too strongly, uh, Peter Spino joins us now from Wolf Research. Peter, it's great to see you. Let's start with the issues that you see facing Paramount.>> Well, Paramount has a rich library, but they're competing in a game defined by scale from a subscale position. Paramount has fewer streaming subscribers. It has a lower revenue per streaming subscriber.And the productivity of the film and TV studio over the last 10 to 20 years has been lower than others in Hollywood. And so while the library ...

Core Viewpoint - Netflix plans to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $82.7 billion, raising concerns about job security, theatrical releases, and diversity in the industry [1] Group 1: Company Responses - Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos reassured employees about maintaining theatrical releases and stated there would be no studio closures [2] - The executives emphasized that the acquisition is focused on growth and strengthening one of Hollywood's iconic studios, supporting jobs, and ensuring a healthy future for film and TV production [2] Group 2: Industry Opposition - The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has opposed the acquisition, claiming it violates antitrust laws aimed at preventing monopolies [2] - Lawmakers, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Richard Blumenthal, expressed concerns about the merger's implications for market power and consumer costs [3][4] Group 3: Market Dynamics - The senators highlighted that the merger could lead to increased television costs for consumers, particularly affecting middle-class families already facing rising prices [4] - Netflix raised its subscription prices in January, which adds to the concerns regarding consumer costs [4] Group 4: Competitive Landscape - Peters and Sarandos referenced Nielsen data indicating that the combined viewership share of Netflix and WBD would be smaller than YouTube's current share and a potential Paramount-WBD merger [6] - Paramount previously made a competing offer of $108.4 billion for WBD, indicating ongoing competition for media dominance [7]

“These equity returns are really coming out of AI, and AI spend is not sustainable,” said Charlie Dupree, global chair of investment banking at JPMorgan. “If that pulls back, then you are going to see a broader market that isn’t really advancing.”Top executives at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley have all flagged the risk of a correction in the months ahead, in part tied to concerns about an overheated artificial intelligence ecosystem, where huge amounts of investment have juiced tech ...

华泰证券研报表示，12月11日，华特迪士尼公司与OpenAI宣布达成为期三年的战略授权协议，首次将 迪士尼旗下跨品牌IP系统性引入生成式AI视频平台Sora。我们认为此举有望树立AI版权合作范式：1） 对迪士尼：依托Sora新型社交+AI创扩大IP价值、延长其生命周期，且粉丝UGC二创也有望反哺 Disney+的生态提升平台活跃度和订阅转化；此外，IP授权将扭转之前AI内容生成背景下的被动维权现 状，转为主动分享收益纳入商业体系。迪士尼也将用AI革新其自身内容生产流程。2）对Open AI：迪 士尼的顶级IP资源加持下，Sora和ChatGPT Images的产品竞争力增强，用户粘性有望提升；也树立了业 内领先的AI+IP合规应用范式，吸引其他IP资源公司的合作。 ...

Netflix’s and Paramount’s $100bn battle to buy Warner Bros Discovery is a gripping drama. But the focus on the streaming wars misses a bigger storyline https://t.co/rDcHxgtun2 ...

Whether or not Netflix’s $82.6 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. goes through, the deal encapsulates a fraught moment for Hollywood, as the entertainment business is increasingly overshadowed by tech giants.On the latest episode of the Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec and I discussed the deal’s implications, both for Netflix and the larger Hollywood ecosystem. Kirsten noted that it’s just the latest move bringing more consolidation to the media business, and she wondered whether it’s “too big a risk” for ...