Description

Net­flix has agreed an $83bn takeover of Warner Bros Dis­cov­ery, hand­ing it con­trol of one of Hol­ly­wood’s most cel­eb­rated stu­dios and cre­at­ing a global enter­tain­ment power­house.

The deal will trans­form the stream­ing giant into the dom­in­ant player in Hol­ly­wood, cap­ping its relent­lessly dis­rupt­ive rise since it was foun­ded as a DVD rental com­pany almost three dec­ades ago.

The stream­ing giant will secure a lib­rary that includes the Harry Pot­ter fran­chise and HBO’s premium pro­gram­ming

Under the deal, Net­flix will secure a coveted lib­rary of con­tent includ­ing the Harry Pot­ter and Bat­man fran­chises, WBD’s stream­ing busi­ness and the premium pro­gram­ming of HBO.

WBD will con­tinue with a spin-off of its cable tele­vi­sion net­works, includ­ing CNN, Dis­cov­ery and Turner, into a sep­ar­ate com­pany before the stu­dios and stream­ing busi­nesses are sold to Net­flix.

Net­flix saw off rivals Com­cast and Para­mount in a bid­ding war over­seen by WBD boss David Zaslav, one of the most power­ful fig­ures in the industry.