Wow! Paramount + already had a long road to catch up with Netflix. Might never happen now, especially after losing Taylor Sheridan also…the reason for all of Paramount’s best shows…
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@dp I think a reckoning will happen very soon.
@e7 here’s the thing - I love movies but not nepo babies who destroy companies, free speech and ruin people with the help of a Cheeto tanned dictator. I have my values and morals in place, thanks.
Not saying who should own it but the sale ain’t over by a long shot. Don’t underestimate the tantrums of a rich kid.
@bm I would be on it. The president already gave Larry Ellison a list of the people he wants fired from CNN when they take it over and hand it to the cretinous Bari Weiss.
@e7 This is the epitome of a "the lesser of (three) evils" situation. I don't think anybody's cheering a monopoly; we're cheering that Heir Ellison getting knocked down a peg from his entitled, arrogant high horse. We're cheering that the evilest of the three options did not win.
If you love movies and hate multi billion dollar monopolies you should not be cheering this. Funny how some people can just forget their core beliefs over hate.
Apparently we're not allowed to criticize people who fetishize support of that country in the Middle East that committed all the war crimes, so I'll abbreviate what I wrote earlier:
Shari Redstone is the villain of the piece.
She fired Bob Bakish because he met with David Zaslav to discuss a Paramount-WBD merger in 2023, and she didn't approve of the idea or of the meeting.
Instead, she sold the company to someone who promised he'd keep it intact, then he started burning the whole thing to the ground, THEN he tried to do exactly what Bakish was considering two years ago -- when it would have actually been a good effort to take on Netflix.
Shari is the villain, plain and simple.
The whole anti-trust issue may put a dent in Netflix's plans but I hope not. Truthfully, this is a rude awakening for DE and his leadership team. It is sink or swim. If they can't manage the company, Paramount will be up for sale again - the most probable scenario. They don't have the talent at the top to think 5-10 years ahead and to turn this ship around fast enough. There are no traditional media companies left - they are all tech companies who have the money to buy studios. The stock price is abysmal and as it stands, we will be even a more distant streaming player from the top 3-4 companies.
Good! Maybe the company will collapse and my toxic narcissistic boss will lose her job.
in 2009 a turner brodcasting exective stood in front of employees and said they were not woried about online streeming since it made up only about 15 minutes of viewing time for most people. tbs, t-t, cartoon network, hbo, time inc and the whole mgm catalog ted turner had picked up all sat under the same ownership, even though getting those rights had cost him control of his own company.
some leaders understood the shifting landscape, but others were mostly performative, tossing around buzz words and confidence to mask that they were pretty lost. many were focused on squeezing every dollar they could from both sides, half of the revenue from viewers and half from advertisers, even when those goals clashed hard with each other. they kept insisting content was king, pouring money into shows while ignoring distribution, and they held their back library tight for years.
meanwhile netflix rolled out its 3 cds per month model, and when streaming started in 2007 we avoided it at first because we thought watching online would reduce our monthly movie allotment. we were hesitant, but eventually we used it all the time simply because unlike cable, streaming had no ads. and ads had become a massive, repeat massive insult to peoples time. just look at the super bowl spots to see the scale of nonsense, alcohol, crpyto, gambling, cars.
the truth was that cable was priced like a premium service, while broadcast tv was free but filled with ads. once they blended the two, the golden goose was gone.
still, the bravado of that exective has stayed with me ever since.
Umm No nooo Paramount wouldn't have been better with WBD - because everybody in Paramount would have been more redundant than anybody at Netflix, be glad Netflix got WBD and NOT Para getting WBD dummies - in the short term we'd all be unemployed - while long-term it won't be good for PARAsky
good. take care of the current house you set on fire before lighting up another one.
Prediction: Trump doesn’t approve, citing anti-trust, and Nepo Baby gets it in the end
do not be happy, its not over. There will be consessions and/or potential rejection on many fronts to be approved, if at all. Many entities are involved, including the theatre owners industry which is 100% against the proposed merger.
It’s never going to happen. WBD is smart they know it will never pass government approval and they will take the break up fee and will be stuck with Paramount.
As a consolation prize I wonder if they would go after the WBD spinoff company? They do broadcast a lot of sports.
I see this as a net positive, a WB/Paramount merger would have been extremely painful with yet more job losses for all of us especially those on the east coast.
At least it will be paid in all American money, not Saudi money…
Su-ks, that people were laid off to make room for something that ended up a waste of time, and loss of good employees.
And DE complained yesterday about interference and influence with the WB bidding. So much irony…
As someone who was laid off in this last round, I can't help but take some glee at DE's failure to get WBD.
On a serious note, maybe he should have focused on getting Paramount right before he went shopping for another company.
Wonder how long it will take DE to lose interest in Paramount and ask daddy to buy him a shiny new toy