Will Netflix bid for WBD? Co-CEO Greg Peters Says ‘Major Media Mergers Don’t Have an Amazing Track Record’
Will Netflix pursue large-scale media M&A? Don’t bet on it.
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters downplayed the company’s desire to expand through a major acquisition, speaking Wednesday night at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles. Peters was asked by moderator Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg’s senior media and entertainment editor, whether Netflix was interested in making a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery were founded.
“I would say this: We come from a deep heritage of being builders rather than buyers,” Peters responded. He continued: “There needs to be some skepticism about big media mergers – they don’t have a great track record over time. »
Peters said, “Our job is to figure out, ‘What’s the best way to grow our business?’ » » If a major acquisition is “the best way to grow our business, so much the better. Otherwise, we should do something else. »
Discussions swirled about Netflix’s supposed interest in WBD after it was announced that David Ellison, just weeks after closing the $8 billion deal to form Paramount Skydance, was considering a possible acquisition offer from Warner Bros. Discovery in its entirety.
After Shaw asked Peters if Netflix was now competing with “the second richest person in the world” — a reference to Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who largely financed the Skydance Media deal to acquire Paramount Global — Peters said, “It’s fun to have a new vigor in the competitive ecosystem. It’s exciting, it keeps everyone on their toes.” But, he added, “this does not change the fundamentals of the company.” When asked if Paramount Skydance made an “irrational” bid in striking a $7.7 billion deal for UFC rights over seven years, Peters noted that Netflix is constantly competing in bids for content rights. If Netflix gets outbid, Peters said his feeling is: “Go with God and try to monetize this.”
Of YouTube, Peters said: “Of course, it’s a competitor, of course. But he said YouTube is an “orthogonal” rival, in that its model of primarily user-generated content is fundamentally different from Netflix’s. “Orthogonal competition is the hardest” to follow, he said. Peters said Netflix wants to invest in creators’ projects, whether they come from YouTube, TikTok or elsewhere, and help “find them the biggest global audience.”
Peters also announced that Netflix is expanding the games available on TVs with a new line of “board games,” which you play using your smartphone as a controller. These titles, expected to go live this holiday season, include “Boggle Party,” “Pictionary: Game Night,” “Tetris Time Warp,” “Lego Party,” and “Party Crashers: Fool Your Friends.” Overall, Peters gave Netflix’s gaming initiative, which it launched in late 2021, a “B-” grade. He recalled that when Netflix first launched in Japan, only 2% of consumers in the country had heard of the company. Netflix’s current situation in games and interactive programming, he said, “is no different than that.”
Peters was asked if Netflix would have made more money if it had released the animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters,” the service’s most-watched film to date, to theaters. “I don’t think so, ultimately,” Peters said. “It worked incredibly well for us.” Any box office advantage from “KPop Demon Hunters,” he suggested, would not be a reason to deviate from Netflix’s strategy of primarily releasing releases first. When asked if Netflix would consider syndicating shows to third parties, Peters said, “I doubt it…I don’t know why we would.”
Meanwhile, last week, billionaire Elon Musk launched a concerted “cancel Netflix” campaign on his social platform X, urging people to abandon the streamer due to the company’s perceived “woke” bias, including some children’s shows on the platform that depict transgender characters.
Peters did not directly address Musk’s anti-Netflix initiative. But he talked about the fact that there are certain shows on the service that “people don’t like” — which he said stems from the fact that Netflix creates content for an audience approaching a billion people worldwide. “If we do it right, there’s something on the service [some people] think it’s not great, don’t like it, or think it might be harmful. This is the business we’re in,” Peters said.
For the first two quarters of the year, Netflix beat Wall Street’s expectations for revenue and profit. As of Q1 2025, the company no longer regularly reports subscriber counts as the company wants to focus on financials and user engagement. In reporting its second-quarter results, Netflix increased its full-year 2025 revenue guidance to a range of $44.8 billion to $45.2 billion (previously $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion), which would represent 15% to 16% year-over-year growth, primarily due to the recent depreciation of the U.S. dollar. The company is expected to report its third-quarter results on October 21 after the market close.
Peters was named co-CEO of Netflix – alongside Ted Sarandos – in January 2023 after Reed Hastings resigned from the role. Previously, Peters served as chief product officer and chief operating officer.
