As the battle between Netflix and Paramount over who will own Warner Bros heats up again, Disney CEO Bob Iger on Thursday strategically stepped in with some opinions of his own.
With his eyes on the streaming wars endgame, Iger wouldn’t openly reveal whether he prefers David Ellison‘s Paramount or the Ted Sarandos– and Greg Peters-run Netflix to be the new owner of Warner Bros. Discovery, but the Disney boss clearly has some concerns and some perspective.
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“It’s nice to be an observer and not a participant in this,” Iger told CNBC‘s Squawk Box this morning in a joint interview with OpenAI‘s Sam Altman about Disney’s $1 billion investment and licensing deal with the tech firm. “In effect, the position that we’re taking is kind of looking at what we did and now looking at what others have determined they must do in order to succeed.”
With his own experience at the fore, the CEO, who is set to again leave Disney next year, was referring to the $72 billion acquisition of most of Fox in 2017 — a deal that left Disney with a ton of debt that hit the company hard during the theme park closures and other restrictions around the pandemic.
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In the fractured media environment of 2025 — mixed with the $83 billion deal Netflix has with the David Zaslav-run WBD to scoop up WB’s streaming and studio assets and the $108 billion hostile takeover bid David Ellison’s Paramount put on the table on December — this potential merger looks like a different scenario, at least to Iger and his own streamer Disney+.
“I think if I were a regulator looking at this combination, I’d look at a few things,” he said Thursday morning with a nod to D.C. and the European Union.
Joining the business channel remotely, the CEO expanded on his POV: “First of all, I would look at what the impact is on the consumer. You know, will one company end up with pricing leverage that might be considered a negative or damaging to the consumer, and with a significant amount of streaming subscriptions across the world, really does that ultimately give Netflix pricing leverage over the consumer that it might not necessarily be healthy?”
He went on to say: “Additionally, I’d look at what the impact might be on what I’ll call the creative community, but also on the ecosystem of television and films, particularly motion pictures. These movie theaters, which obviously run our films worldwide, operate with relatively thin margins, and they require not only volume, but they require interaction with these films and these movie companies that give them the ability to monetize successfully. That’s a very, very important global business. And I think it’s … we’ve been certainly participating in it in a very big way. We’ve got $33 billion in films in the last 20 years, and you know, we so we’re mindful of protecting the health of that business. It’s very important to what I’ll call the media media ecosystem globally.”
With all that, the savvy Iger kept his finger off the WB scale as Paramount and Netflix head into what is surely another round of rising bids and perhaps intervention from Donald Trump’s administration.
When asked whether he and Disney “make that case to regulators at all in terms of this process?” Iger weaved away from announcing if he was on Team Ted or Team David. “We haven’t determined whether we’ll take a position or not. … I was suggesting what regulators should be looking at.”
In response to the follow-up questions “Do you view Netflix as a more serious competitor than if they should prevail here?,” Iger crossed his arms and replied, “No, I’d rather not say anything more than I’ve said.”
But he had said so much already.
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Netflix would be a monopoly.
Pricing leverage that might be considered a negative or damaging to the consumer? Like Disney doesn’t raise their prices every year! GTFOH!!!
The thing is this:
Netflix has it’s streaming service in mind first and foremost, not theatrical.
As a crazy person who watched 146 movies in a theater this year, i know that there are times when not much interesting is running in theaters and general audiences won’t visit.
I am pretty sure that if Netflix wins, there will be fewer movies in theaters, not more.
Paramount is going to put as many movies in theaters as they can.
No matter where the money comes from, they want to make money back theatrically.
So for me as a livelong movie lover, Netflix isn’t the right company to buy Warner, no matter what they are claiming they will do.
If Netflix wins, theaters loose.
It’s insane that Bob Iger of all people is going to play at being considered about what Netflix buying Warner Bros. means for the consumer when Disney buying Fox was a way bigger deal than this and was way worse for the consumer. I’d guess Iger would like to see Warner Bros. Discovery go to Paramount because it means one less major studio, and it means a more uncertain future for Netflix. Because make no mistake, if Netflix wants to survive into the future, it’s going to need one of these major movie studios and the studio apparatus, IP, and back catalogue that comes with it…and Warner Bros. is probably the best studio to get if you’re trying to take on Disney. Otherwise, like yeah, Netflix is the big dog now at this moment, but that’s not going to last long if Sony is the only major studio Netflix can license from outside of the rare meager offering of some minor movie.
If Paramount gets all of Warner Bros. Discovery it probably won’t be long before they’re where Disney+ currently is. Paramount getting them also means Paramount will basically own television. If Paramount gets WBD the majority of TV will be controlled by Paramount, Disney, and Comcast…who also have their own streaming services. If you’re worried about streaming prices, I feel like having television under the thumb of just three studios, with Disney and Paramount being like mega studios, (who combined would own the majority of American pop culture from the last 100 years) isn’t the best of things.
It’s not for the best of the consumer or anyone else for that matter. Aside from Netflix or Paramount that is. It’ll be good for one of them. I’m thinking Paramount will ultimately win the golden ticket but either way , it’s terrible . But inevitable. There’s no point in pointing out the obvious now because it’s far too late . More should have been done something to prevent Disney from doing what they did throughout the last decade when they went around Hollywood , essentially with a blank check , acquiring one extremely lucrative property after another after another culminating in that 21st Century Fox film studio acquisition . Iger can’t really complain or say much of anything regarding the current situation with Netflix & Paramount. His company is who is who showed them how to do this. It’s over.
Too bad Disney is the worst studio in terms of sticking small movie theatres with windowing mandates that are gradually destroying them. Is Bob aware of that while he touts protecting theatre owners?