Quick Take — Netflix refuses to increase its bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery, paving the way for Paramount Skydance.

On Thursday 26 February, executives from the streaming giant said they “refused to comply” with Paramount Skydance’s offer after the Warner Bros. board deemed it a “superior” proposal…

US film and television group Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced on Tuesday 24 February that Paramount Skydance (PSKY) had submitted a new takeover offer of $31 a share, up from its previous offer of $30. Including WBD’s debt, this target valuation is around $110 billion (EUR 93 billion)..

We talked about it here

Quick Take — TikTok enters into an agreement for a new US entity, ending a long legal saga

The Chinese parent company of the popular video app claimed that a group of non-Chinese investors had created an American version of TikTok to avoid the federal ban.

TikTok said on Thursday that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, had struck a deal with a group of non-Chinese investors to create a new US TikTok, ending a six-year legal saga that has seen the app banned by Congress and embroiled in political clashes between two global superpowers.

The investors include software giant Oracle, MGX, an Emirati investment company, and Silver Lake, another investment company, which will hold more than 80 per cent of the new venture. The list also includes the personal investment entity of Michael Dell, the technology billionaire behind Dell Technologies, and other companies, TikTok said. Adam Presser, former chief operating officer of TikTok, will be the chief executive officer of TikTok in the US.

The deal aims to loosen TikTok’s ties with China and address national security concerns that Beijing could use the app to surveil or manipulate its more than 200 million users in the US

The New York Times

Quick Take — The unstoppable rise of YouTube as the leader in views

.. In September, YouTube said it had paid over $100 billion to creators, artists and media groups by 2021. In the last quarter, YouTube’s advertising revenue increased by 15% to $10.3 billion. The number of YouTube channels earning more than $100,000 from connected TVs increased by 45% year-on-year. The YouTube model has made many creators very rich,…

However, being a successful creator is hard work: they are responsible for making videos that people want to watch, attracting advertisers and developing sponsorship deals with brands. “They are not just creators, they are entrepreneurs,” says Sean Downey, Google’s president for the Americas and global partners.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimates that the ‘creator economy’ advertising market is expected to reach $37 billion this year, up 26 per cent year-on-year. The group expects a further 18% increase in 2026.

Financial Times

Quick Take — Netflix buys Warner Bros. but Paramount relaunches with hostile bid

Three strengths :

1) Warner’s catalogue is historically and qualitatively very interesting.

2) the number of subscribers : Warner has 130 million subscribers (Reuters). Netflix has more than 300 million subscribers (a total of 430 million).

3) Warner is strong in gaming with $1 billion in sales (Reuters).

Then there are Netflix’s popular series. The deal will have to be scrutinised by the US Federal Trade Commission (antitrust), but above all, the agreement is hated by Donald Trump, friend of David Ellison – Larry’s son – who, with Paramount, has launched a hostile bid on Warner for $108 billion (New York Times).

There has been a lot of confusion about the purchase value of $72 billion (correct figure), not to be confused with the global enterprise value of the acquired group of almost $83 billion.

Compiled 5 December, updated 8 December 2025

Quick Take — Disney and Google

  • Disney 10.76% after announcing more foot traffic and higher spending at its parks
  • Alphabet (Google) closed at -7%
    • speaking in court for an antitrust case against Alphabet Eddy Cue an Apple manager said that for the first time in history the volume of Google searches passing through Safari (Apple’s browser) has dropped
    • the main reason is the growth in the use of the various AI systems for searches
    • remember that Alphabet is worth about $1.8tn and 90% of its revenues come from searches

Quick Take — Apple Music versus Spotify

Apple Music has reached 100 million subscribers (including free trial users), but lags behind Spotify, which had 263 million paying subscribers as of 31 December and is solidly profitable, with a gross margin of 32% last quarter. Apple Music, on the other hand, has a ‘single-digit percentage’ gross margin. The US accounted for 39% of Spotify’s revenues last year, a figure close to Netflix’s 41%, which remains a significant benchmark. In other words, Spotify even thrives in Apple’s home territory.

Source : Technicisms