The Hollywood bidding war between Paramount Skydance and Netflix has created a meme frenzy.
The two media giants are in an all-out battle for Warner Bros. Discovery after it accepted Netflix’s offer to acquire its studio and streaming businesses for an equity value of $72 billion. David Ellison’s Paramount launched a hostile $30-per-share bid for all of WBD on Monday.
Warner Bros. Discovery owns the Warner Bros. film studio, HBO, the HBO Max streaming service, and TV networks such as CNN, TNT, and TruTV. It confirmed receipt of Paramount’s unsolicited offer on Monday.
Both entities have made their cases on why they’d be the best owner for WBD. Although internet comedians don’t have a say in where the deals land, it hasn’t stopped them from weighing in with viral jokes about the dueling companies and their quest to acquire WBD.
Some social media users are poking fun at the back-and-forth with memes about how far each company is willing to go to gain WBD’s favor. One post compared the battle for the best offer to a scene from the HBO business drama “Succession,” a title Netflix would own if the deal goes through.
The Instagram meme account Litquidity used parody images that appeared to be AI-created of two business leaders speaking at the DealBook Summit to mock how each company is trying to prove its offer is better.
Some people seem to be using humor to cope with the idea of more consolidation in Hollywood. They are pushing back on both offers with memes about stopping the looming acquisition completely.
“I’m putting together a team to fight the Netflix Warner Bros merger,” one X user captioned a compilation video of various actors and famous filmmakers.
Others speculated on what the movie-watching experience could be like under Warner Bros. Discovery’s new ownership. One TikTok video showed a man sitting down to watch a movie, only for the intros to include a confusing mix of studios, backers such as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and even a DJ, being played before the movie began.
In the midst of all the jokes, Netflix argues that its offer would be better for consumers and creators, while Ellison says Paramount is more likely to win regulatory approval and offers Hollywood more certainty.
What all of this means in the long run is unclear so far. It could lead to job cuts in the entertainment industry as the giants consolidate their power. The trends of streaming services getting pricier and fewer movies hitting theaters could also continue, as companies release less content, Business Insider previously reported.
Either way — as with many serious big business deals — consumers and industry insiders are finding ways to laugh through it.
