Since the Netflix/Warner Bros. deal was first announced last month, Netflix’s share price has dropped by more than 12%, throwing the stock-based component of the agreement into question. To calm the markets, Netflix has now changed its offer to an all-cash bid, according to Deadline.
Warner Bros. and Netflix said the updated terms “provide enhanced certainty” for Warner shareholders by “eliminating market-based variability.” The transaction’s overall worth remains $82.7 billion, and the changes are widely seen as the reason shareholders are now moving more quickly toward a vote, slated for April 2026. Note to David Ellison: time is running out.
WBD CEO David Zaslav released a statement saying, “Today’s revised merger agreement brings us even closer to combining two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world and, with it, even more people enjoying the entertainment they love to watch the most.” He continued, “By coming together with Netflix, we will combine the stories Warner Bros. has told that have captured the world’s attention for more than a century and ensure audiences continue to enjoy them for generations to come.”
The most obscene detail in the Netflix/Warner Bros. saga isn’t the price tag — it’s the exit bonuses. Zaslav reportedly walking away with something in the neighborhood of $500M feels deeply wrong. Somehow, he’s managed to be the real winner here. Whether Warner Bros. was damaged before he arrived is beside the point. His mandate wasn’t to fix the studio, only to keep the asset liquid enough to sell. By that narrow definition, he succeeded.
Meanwhile, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has spent months trying to persuade Hollywood that Netflix, after its $83 billion deal to buy Warner Bros., will genuinely commit to theatrical releases. He’s been pressing the case privately and, more recently, publicly, telling The New York Times that Netflix would preserve Warner Bros.’ current 45-day theatrical windows and compete seriously. In his words, he wants to “win the box office.”
This all sounds reassuring—except skepticism remains. Sarandos has long criticized theatrical windows as incompatible with the Netflix business. According to Puck’s Matt Belloni, exhibitors are skeptical — noting that Netflix’s sudden newfound enthusiasm coincides, quite conveniently, with industry and regulatory scrutiny of the deal. While Sarandos insists Netflix avoided theaters simply because streaming was thriving, many in Hollywood view his rhetoric as strategic, aimed more at smoothing approval than signaling any genuine shift.
Regal Cineworld CEO Eduardo Acuna tells Belloni he welcomes Sarandos’s apparent “conversion,” but stresses that details matter—especially which window Sarandos is referring to. A 45-day window to transactional V.O.D. is acceptable, Acuna says; 45 days to Netflix’s subscription service would be deeply damaging. A Netflix spokesperson clarified that Warner Bros. films would retain their current staggered windows—roughly 47 days to V.O.D. and about 78 days to HBO/HBO Max—but exhibitors still worry about the erosion of movie value when expensive, star-driven films appear “free” on a subscription service soon after release.
Acuna argues that rebuilding trust will require more than promises: a binding, long-term commitment—ink on paper—to 15–20 wide theatrical releases a year, meaningful marketing support, and guarantees lasting closer to a decade, potentially enforced by regulators. He even floated a symbolic test—give Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ a full, wide theatrical run with a 45-day window—to prove Netflix’s sincerity. Good luck with that.