Hollywood reels as Warner Bros Discovery faces collapse amid a fierce bidding war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance, sparking fears of mass redundancies and fewer outlets for creative work.
The studio, famed for Casablanca, Goodfellas, Batman, and Harry Potter, has suffered post-2023 strike slumps costing $300-$500M, with Netflix eyeing its lot, HBO, and library for $72B plus debt while pledging theatrical films, and Paramount’s $108.4B hostile bid backed by Middle Eastern funds and Trump allies.
Exhibitors dread Netflix’s streaming push eroding cinema revenue by 25%, despite gestures like the Egyptian Theatre revamp, while Paramount’s ties raise censorship concerns amplified by President Trump’s CNN sale demand. CEO David Zaslav endures fierce criticism for $11B losses, a 7% share fall, and $51.9M pay post-2022 merger, branded a Gordon Gekko for shareholder focus over legacy.
“I watched Warner Bros struggle since David Zaslav became the CEO and ran it into the ground,” says an actor who lost his home after work dried up. He did not want to be identified because he still hopes to work for Netflix and Paramount.
“Zaslav is just Gordon Gekko–he came in, broke it and sold it all,” says a producer on the Warner Bros lot. “He said I will make all shareholders rich and who cares what the history of this place is.”
Warner Bros rejected the portrayal.
“Under the leadership of David and the talented team at WBD over the past three and a half years, the studio has regained its leadership position with a unique slate of films led by original content, seen the relaunch of the DC Universe under a single unified leadership team with ten year plan and the streaming service has launched globally and become profitable for the first time ever,” Warner’s head of communications Robert Gibbs said in a statement to the BBC.
“Every morning, no matter how much I tell myself to stay positive, I wake up feeling like I’ve failed in every direction,” says a now-homeless actor with family, fearing job impacts. “David Ellison is a right-wing billionaire Trumper,” a camera assistant said of the Paramount Skydance CEO, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison. “Netflix is much more historically inclined to not micromanage production. I would rather see Netflix purchase Warner Bros than foreign money,” he says.