Smash Notes

Back to Reed Hastings on Hollywood’s future, Netflix’s shakeup and knowing when to leave, with Reed Hastings & Kara Swisher.

Why Did Netflix Walk Away From Warner Brothers?

Reed Hastings says Netflix walked away from Warner Brothers Discovery after the price rose past a bid the company was really happy with, because the purchase no longer made economic sense, and the exit brought a couple billion dollar breakup fee.

Netflix and Paramount spent months bidding for Warner Brothers Discovery. At the price Netflix had bid, the company was really happy. The price then went up a bunch, the new level seemed a bridge too far, and Netflix chose not to close a deal it could have done. Many people feel an $80 billion debt is insane unless the buyer is Larry Ellison, and pretty lofty even for Larry Ellison. Paramount's biggest challenge is the debt. Paramount is figuring out how to integrate and has done reasonably well so far.

Netflix's next move is to keep taking the content up, toward a higher percentage of the top 100 shows of the year and the top 100 films. Consumers see a lot of interesting films, while a lot of AI stays behind the scenes.

Grokipedia·Netflix·Reed Hastings

Transcript

Reed Hastings on Hollywood’s future, Netflix’s shakeup and knowing when to leave ·

Masters of Scale

More from this episode

  1. What Was Netflix's Most Disruptive Idea?Reed Hastings says the most disruptive thing in his tenure at Netflix was on demand.
  2. How Should Netflix Compete With YouTube?Reed Hastings says Netflix should compete with YouTube by making more and better television shows and more and better movies, and by raising the creative bar…
  3. Why Do Two Chief Executives Run Netflix?Reed Hastings says two chief executives work at Netflix because Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters are so committed to success in the company and think company first.
  4. Can AI Give Every Kid a Tutor?Reed Hastings says every kid can have a tutor once the tutor is AI, because a human tutor is about 100 bucks an hour and people cannot quite afford one for…
  5. Is Pharma Still Hated While Doing Good Work?Reed Hastings says pharma is hated by the general public and, in his eyes, is continuing to do amazing and positive work.
  6. What Is Wrong With California's Billionaire Tax?Reed Hastings supports higher taxes on rich people and still calls California's billionaire tax a smash and grab.

People

More answers like this

The other side

More with Kara Swisher

Related episodes

Plays from this note through the rest of the episode.

Note

Weekly highlights

One letter a week.

The notes worth hearing, with the minute they were said.