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- Netflix defended its acquisition of Warner Bros. as a strategic and informed move.
- Co-CEO Greg Peters says past media mega-mergers failed due to a lack of industry expertise.
- Netflix emphasized its healthy business and confidence in understanding the entertainment industry.
Netflix defended its announced acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business, saying it wouldn’t be a failure like other media mega-mergers that have come before it.
“It’s true. Historically, many of these mergers haven’t worked. A lot of these failures were because the companies doing the a didn’t understand the entertainment industry,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said, speaking during a call Friday with investors to discuss the deal. “These are key businesses we understand.”
Another point he made was that while other M&A deals were about companies looking for a lifeline, Netflix isn’t doing the deal to save its business.
“We have a healthy business,” Peters said.
He didn’t specify any past mergers, but notable tie-ups that have widely been considered failures were AT&T buying Time Warner in 2018 and the AOL-Time Warner combo in 2000.
The streaming giant is making the biggest acquisition in its history — and one of the largest ever in entertainment — announcing Friday that it had struck a deal to acquire Warner Bros. from WBD for an equity value of $72 billion.