Netflix’s $72-B Deal for Warner Bros. Discovery Stuns Wall St.

Netflix’s $72 billion agreement to acquire Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming assets has set off a high-stakes debate about whether regulators will allow the world’s largest streamer to get even bigger, Allie Canal reported for Yahoo Finance.

A combined Netflix–WBD would control roughly one-third of U.S. streaming activity — a level of concentration that has already drawn fierce criticism.

The deal — which folds Warner Bros.’ film and TV studios, HBO, and HBO Max into Netflix’s global operation — immediately resets the competitive landscape. It also caught even seasoned Wall Street analysts off guard.

Citi analyst Jason Bazinet admitted this scenario barely made his list of possibilities. “It was my lowest-probability outcome,” he told Yahoo Finance.

“Actually, we only had a 5% likelihood that this transaction would be consummated.” His framework had assumed consolidation among the three subscale streaming services — HBO Max, Paramount+, and Peacock — rather than the category leader using its balance sheet to absorb a major rival.

“We just put very low probability on the industry leader essentially getting bigger,” he said. “But that’s what this transaction says.”

That unexpected outcome is now colliding with the political environment.

According to JustWatch, a platform that measures streaming engagement across U.S. services, a combined Netflix–WBD would control roughly one-third of U.S. streaming activity — a level of concentration that has already drawn fierce criticism.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted the deal, saying it “looks like an anti-monopoly nightmare ... threatening to force Americans into higher subscription prices and fewer choices over what and how they watch, while putting American workers at risk.” She urged the Department of Justice to conduct a fair review without “influence-peddling and bribery.”