Valuetainment - February 19, 2026


“This Is A DOG FIGHT” - Paramount HIJACKS Netflix Deal As Warner Bros War EXPLODES


Episode Stats

Length

10 minutes

Words per Minute

208.5598

Word Count

2,136

Sentence Count

175

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

Netflix and Time Warner are all but done with their deal, and now it's time to figure out who's going to get it. Will it be Netflix? Or will it be Paramount Skydance or Netflix? Today's After Show Was Hosted By: Jeff Graham, Sarah Abdurrahman, Jeff Perla, and Charles Hudson


Transcript

00:00:00.260 Paramount, you know, we're seeing stories about who's supposed to buy Time Warner.
00:00:04.880 Paramount is out, right?
00:00:06.700 Oh, Paramount's not going to be getting it.
00:00:08.100 It's probably going to be Netflix.
00:00:09.460 And then these stories start coming.
00:00:12.140 Paramount grows more confident.
00:00:14.440 Warner Brothers and Discovery will drop Netflix bid.
00:00:19.180 And a lot of people, Tom has texted me all night.
00:00:22.140 He said, let me tell you what's going on here.
00:00:24.120 I said, well, I'm going to go to Snyder first on this and then pump and see what we do.
00:00:27.200 So confidence has grown inside Paramount Skydance and Warner Brothers Discovery.
00:00:32.380 It's deal with Netflix in a matter of days and reopen a months-long bidding war of the company.
00:00:38.140 The Warner Brothers, if Warner Brothers does reopen the process, it will have less to do with the recent barely enhanced offer by Paramount,
00:00:46.820 where it didn't increase its all cash deal of $78 billion bid, other than agreeing to cover a backup fee to walk away from Netflix.
00:00:54.820 Then the worries about valuation and the regulatory uncertainty.
00:00:58.900 At the Post reporter last week, the firm known as WBD Warner Brothers, that controls the iconic Warner Brothers studio,
00:01:06.740 HBO Max streaming and cable properties like CNN Discovery has been under massive pressure
00:01:11.040 to consider the sweet, sweetened offer from Paramount Skydance.
00:01:16.000 It's increasingly Warner Brothers investors believe the nearly sealed $72 billion deal from Netflix for the studio
00:01:21.640 and the streaming service is facing insurmountable regulatory hurdles, while they also are questioning the valuation of the Netflix offer.
00:01:29.540 Jeff, where do you stand with this?
00:01:31.060 Again, I think that it's an admission that the industry as it was is failing,
00:01:36.500 that there's enough technological change and evolution that they're trying their best to keep the horse alive as long as they possibly can.
00:01:44.940 And the only way to do that is to create streaming libraries that are big enough to survive the fact that they have all just junk.
00:01:51.960 But why do you think this happened, though?
00:01:53.040 You know, it's going this way, and the market's like, yeah, I don't think they're going to pick it up.
00:01:57.320 I don't think Paramount's going to pick it up.
00:01:58.540 And then all of a sudden, oh, come back here.
00:02:00.440 No, we should look at Paramount.
00:02:02.200 Why do you think that happened?
00:02:02.640 There's stuff going on behind the scenes because this has become such a hot-button thing.
00:02:05.800 You know, the government's getting involved.
00:02:07.580 I mean, we've got lawyers involved.
00:02:08.980 There's a lot at stake for all parties involved, which means it's too much to just simply say, oh, Netflix, you take it.
00:02:16.440 We'll be fine.
00:02:16.980 We'll go someplace else.
00:02:18.960 It's, again, the competition issue is really what's driving everything.
00:02:23.400 The fact that social media, I specifically say YouTube, but it's not just YouTube.
00:02:28.340 You would rather have it go to YouTube.
00:02:30.320 No, I'm saying YouTube is eating their lunch.
00:02:32.400 Social media is eating their lunch.
00:02:33.740 The idea of appointment television, that kind of, you know, baby boomers do that.
00:02:39.220 Most young people.
00:02:40.560 Appointment television.
00:02:41.300 That's what you call it.
00:02:42.320 That's what they call it.
00:02:43.140 That's not my term.
00:02:44.040 They call it appointment television.
00:02:45.160 The idea that somebody sits down.
00:02:46.680 76 million boomers out there who just pissed off.
00:02:48.420 I know.
00:02:48.760 I'm sorry.
00:02:50.080 But to all the younger people who have, like, for example, never seen a nightly news report.
00:02:54.800 Yeah.
00:02:55.080 They're not going to sit down at 6.30 p.m. and watch CBS News.
00:02:58.760 Yeah.
00:02:59.080 That property is dead.
00:03:00.640 It used to be cash cow.
00:03:01.740 What do you think?
00:03:02.140 You think it's going to end up going to Paramount?
00:03:04.320 You think it's going to end up going to Netflix?
00:03:05.580 What are your thoughts?
00:03:06.840 I think that all the numbers, everything everyone's focused on, the wrong thing to focus on.
00:03:12.600 There's only one thing that matters.
00:03:13.600 Tell me.
00:03:14.080 Who are the people?
00:03:15.560 You going to bet against the Ellisons?
00:03:17.880 They got Netflix's market cap is $325 billion.
00:03:21.380 Larry Ellison personally is worth $225 billion.
00:03:24.360 His net worth is almost as much as the entire Netflix business.
00:03:27.620 So they got the money.
00:03:28.340 The second thing is you got people running Netflix who aren't the founders.
00:03:32.140 You have basically professional CEOs who have come in.
00:03:35.300 So you're in a dog.
00:03:35.860 Are you talking about Ted?
00:03:37.040 Yeah.
00:03:37.320 They're not the founders.
00:03:38.480 They're not.
00:03:39.160 But Reid is still involved, right?
00:03:40.720 That's fine.
00:03:41.420 But you're in a dogfight.
00:03:42.960 You need people who know how to fight, right?
00:03:45.020 It's like taking somebody who is like a bodybuilder at the gym.
00:03:48.020 They look real and good, right?
00:03:49.080 They've got big muscles and stuff.
00:03:50.240 Fight a UFC guy.
00:03:51.160 But you fight a street fighter.
00:03:52.280 They don't look out the muscles, but they whoop your ass, right?
00:03:54.360 And so same thing here is you basically have very entrepreneurial family that is just going
00:03:59.220 to keep fighting.
00:04:00.220 And you see it.
00:04:01.080 Every time you see a headline come across, what are they talking about?
00:04:03.220 Let me ask you guys this.
00:04:03.860 We're going to go red alert.
00:04:04.520 We're going to go real hard at this.
00:04:05.940 Here's a question for you.
00:04:06.800 How much does diplomacy and building relationship with the current administration matter and deals
00:04:13.480 this size?
00:04:14.580 10 out of 10.
00:04:15.480 You think so?
00:04:16.060 Yeah.
00:04:16.380 Tell me why.
00:04:16.900 I think that's the entire reason why this is happening.
00:04:18.980 Look at the Couchy odds.
00:04:19.940 I think they were up like 60% that Netflix was going to win a week or two ago, and now
00:04:24.520 it totally flipped, and now they're seeing Paramount's going to win.
00:04:26.120 Really, Rob?
00:04:26.660 Do you have the updated Couchy odds?
00:04:28.340 Yeah.
00:04:28.560 Now it says Paramount is the favorite.
00:04:31.460 Is that it?
00:04:32.640 Yeah.
00:04:32.960 Who will successfully take a Warner Brothers?
00:04:35.240 So red is who?
00:04:36.100 Red is Netflix?
00:04:37.340 No.
00:04:37.660 None before July 2027 is red at 15%.
00:04:40.700 Netflix at 36.4%.
00:04:43.140 Paramount at 49.8%.
00:04:44.820 Can you go to the peak of Netflix blue, whatever that was, in June, July?
00:04:49.680 January, right there, yeah.
00:04:50.680 Yeah, it was like two weeks.
00:04:51.720 70.
00:04:52.760 Wow.
00:04:54.220 72% and Paramount was at what?
00:04:55.960 Does that say 16?
00:04:56.560 16.2% for Paramount.
00:04:57.660 And now it's what?
00:04:59.400 Today it is 49% Paramount, Netflix 36.4%.
00:05:03.820 Without any breaking news.
00:05:04.880 Oh, sorry.
00:05:05.440 Without any breaking news happening, though, so I think that's, like you said, behind
00:05:07.740 the scenes stuff, and I think that's the forces of the political will behind it.
00:05:11.160 So is it a government backlash?
00:05:12.660 Is it a public backlash?
00:05:13.960 Is it, like you're saying, is it the street fight between the companies?
00:05:16.960 Well, there's some other things that have happened.
00:05:17.860 There's been a couple of deals that occurred where people started to realize, wait a second,
00:05:21.400 because there's this whole controversy, and I don't know all the details, right, but there's
00:05:24.480 this whole controversy over how much is some of the assets actually worth and shares versus
00:05:30.280 cash.
00:05:30.960 Cash is king.
00:05:31.700 $1 equals $1, right?
00:05:32.860 But the second you start talking about, hey, we're going to give you some shares, well,
00:05:35.420 is that share worth $1 or worth $3?
00:05:37.480 And there's a bunch of debate about that.
00:05:39.200 But there's been some public market deals that have happened where now it's calling into
00:05:42.360 question things that Netflix was previously saying.
00:05:44.340 And so I think that you have a combination of factors.
00:05:46.980 You've got the politics, like they're talking about.
00:05:49.100 You've got the characters that are, you know, kind of going through this.
00:05:52.840 And then you also have, okay, we're getting more data from the market that maybe it's just
00:05:57.760 that, look, these legacy assets might not be as valuable as everybody thought they were.
00:06:01.400 And by the way, long term, go 20 years, not five years, go 20 years, 2046.
00:06:09.560 What does the media look like?
00:06:11.360 What does Netflix look like?
00:06:12.680 What does YouTube look like?
00:06:14.620 What does Time Warner look like?
00:06:16.380 What do these guys look like?
00:06:18.180 Well, you know a great point, Versant, you know, this like CNBC, MSNBC, all they all got
00:06:22.820 spun out from NBC Universal.
00:06:25.620 It's down 35% since they went public.
00:06:30.220 Versant.
00:06:30.800 Versant.
00:06:31.340 So like NBC has all these assets.
00:06:34.300 They basically took CNBC, MSNBC, Golf Channel, all these things.
00:06:38.140 The appointment television stuff.
00:06:39.100 And they spun it out and they say, that's our streaming business.
00:06:41.420 We don't want to have our movie, film library, all this stuff funding this other stuff.
00:06:47.420 So we're going to break these out into two separate businesses.
00:06:49.560 That Versant business that got spun out is now down 35%.
00:06:52.640 So what they thought it was going to go out at, obviously the market is repricing it 35% lower.
00:06:58.140 So then you go and you look at Netflix, you look at these other things.
00:07:00.360 And I think to your point, like how much TV do you watch versus YouTube, social media, Netflix?
00:07:06.200 It's just not that much.
00:07:07.540 It's a place out.
00:07:08.240 Oh, sorry.
00:07:08.840 I'm finished.
00:07:09.660 No, so it's just like it is less valuable than it was, you know, five, ten years ago.
00:07:13.420 It's $75 billion value to Paramount.
00:07:16.060 It's $75 billion value to Netflix where they want to pick something like this up, Brandon.
00:07:19.480 Yeah, no, I just think like if this goes through for Netflix, it kind of creates a fortress for content.
00:07:24.020 Like that example, I think it's because it's like that's like a knockoff streaming service, what they've made there.
00:07:29.360 But Netflix is Netflix because it has most of the content on it.
00:07:32.360 And if they get this, it's like the primary source for content that people actually want to watch.
00:07:36.160 So, yeah, I think just because it has more dominance already and this would give it like stuff that doesn't even have.
00:07:42.580 So I think it would give it more of that monopoly that we're trying to avoid.
00:07:46.280 Well, we'll see.
00:07:46.900 Can you go to Tom's tweet real quick?
00:07:48.420 Go to Tom's tweet since Tom is not here.
00:07:50.680 Warner Brothers discovered just pulled a power move, set the Netflix merger vote to March 20th,
00:07:54.860 told shareholders to vote yes on Netflix, also reopened talks with Paramount for seven days.
00:07:59.720 Paramount immediately raised their offer from $31,000 to $31,000 up from $30,000 translation.
00:08:05.100 Warner Brothers telling Netflix, we're with you while whispering to Paramount,
00:08:08.660 show us what you really got, like dating two people at once, classic corporate auction.
00:08:14.660 Warner Brothers shareholder will win employees.
00:08:17.140 Brace for layoffs.
00:08:17.900 Either way, Hollywood consolidation, fewer buyers, worse deals for talent, higher prices for consumers.
00:08:23.220 The trick will be getting this through the Federal Trade Commission hearings.
00:08:27.100 That will be a mini-series by itself.
00:08:29.680 By the way, Tom, quick shout-out to you.
00:08:31.420 You got a laugh from a text joke, not an actual joke.
00:08:35.840 So maybe in the future we should test this out more often.
00:08:38.540 We have our annual sales leadership summit that is coming up this year.
00:08:42.660 We're doing it at the Trump Doral.
00:08:43.840 I went to the property the other day.
00:08:46.020 Unbelievably beautiful property.
00:08:47.380 And if you're a sales person or a sales leader or a CEO that wants to drive sales and find superstars and develop superstars,
00:08:56.320 Rob, play that clip that you have.
00:08:57.420 I think Alicia, send it to you.
00:08:59.660 Go right ahead, buddy.
00:09:00.740 I got a question for you.
00:09:01.700 Which of these two skill sets guarantee success more?
00:09:04.460 You being able to recruit rock stars, eights and nines, coming in talented and they change the company overnight.
00:09:11.820 Or two, you knowing how to develop rock stars, which of these two guarantee success?
00:09:18.020 From my experience, when I was not a rock star and I got lucky and I recruited a rock star, I could never keep the rock star.
00:09:25.520 Eventually, I obsessed over developing people to succeed in sales.
00:09:30.400 Once I did that, all the rock stars started knocking on the doors because they wanted to work with me.
00:09:35.640 This is why once a year I host an event called the Sales Leadership Summit.
00:09:38.860 This year we're doing a March 25th through the 27th at Trump Doral.
00:09:43.320 If you want to find out how you and your team can attend this event to learn how to become better sales leaders,
00:09:49.160 click on a link below, fill out your information.
00:09:51.540 One of our consultants will get a hold of you.
00:09:54.220 There you go, Rob.
00:09:55.040 That's the QR code and we're going to put the link below.
00:09:57.220 Rob, if you can put the link below as well for people to go learn more about it and fill out the information.
00:10:01.720 One of our representatives will call you and answer any questions you may have about the event.
00:10:04.860 And hopefully we'll see you there March 25th through the 27th at the Trump Doral.
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