Will Netflix pursue major media M&A? Don’t bet.
Speaking at the Bloomberg ScreenTime conference in LA on Wednesday night, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters downplayed the company’s desire to grow through major acquisitions. Peters was asked by host Lucas Shaw, editor-in-chief of media and entertainment at Bloomberg, whether there was any truth to rumors that Netflix was interested in making a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.
“I will say this: We have a deep tradition of being builders, not buyers,” Peters responded. He continued: “There should be some skepticism when it comes to major media mergers. Media mergers don’t have an amazing long-term track record.”
“Our job is to figure out, ‘What’s the best way to grow the business?’ If a big acquisition is the best way to grow the business, great. If not, we should do something else,” Peters said.
Chatter spread the word about Netflix’s alleged interest in WBD, just weeks after David Ellison signed an $8 billion deal to create Paramount Skydance and after news broke that the company was considering potentially buying Warner Bros. Discovery in its entirety.
After Shaw asked Peters about Netflix now competing with the “second richest person in the world” (a reference to Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who heavily funded the Skydance Media deal to acquire Paramount Global), Peters said, “It’s fun to see a new dynamic in the competitive ecosystem. It’s exciting and it keeps everyone on their toes.” However, “the fundamentals of business remain the same,” he says. Asked whether Paramount Skydance was bidding “unreasonably” in signing the seven-year, $7.7 billion UFC rights deal, Peters pointed out that Netflix has always competed in bidding for content rights. Peters said that if Netflix makes a high bid, his feeling is to “obey God and try to monetize the heck out of it.”
“Of course, it’s definitely a competitor,” Peters said of YouTube. But he said YouTube is an “orthogonal” competitor, primarily because its user-generated content model is fundamentally different from Netflix. “Orthogonal competition is the most difficult to track,” he says. Peters said Netflix wants to invest in creator projects such as YouTube and TikTok and help them “find the biggest audiences in the world.”
Peters also announced new plans for Netflix to expand the games available on TV with “party games” that can be played using a smartphone as a controller. These titles scheduled to launch this holiday season include “Boggle Party,” “Pictionary: Game Night,” “Tetris Time Warp,” “Lego Party,” and “Party Crashers: Fool Your Friends.” Overall, Peters gave Netflix’s gaming efforts, which launched in late 2021, a “B-” grade. He recalled that when Netflix first launched in Japan, only 2% of consumers had even heard of the company. Netflix’s current situation with games and interactive programming is “not dissimilar,” he said.
Peters was asked whether Netflix would have made more money if it had released the animated blockbuster KPop Demon Hunters, its most-watched movie to date, in theaters. “At the end of the day, I don’t think so,” Peters said. “It’s worked incredibly well for us,” he said, suggesting that the box office boost from “KPop Demon Hunters” won’t be a reason to deviate from Netflix’s strategy of mostly streaming first releases. Asked if Netflix had any plans to syndicate the show to a third party, Peters said, “I doubt it…I don’t know why they would do that.”
Meanwhile, last week, billionaire Elon Musk launched a mass “Quit Netflix” campaign on his social platform X, urging people to quit the streamer over the company’s “woke” bias, including some of the platform’s children’s shows that feature transgender characters.
Peters did not directly address Musk’s anti-Netflix efforts. But he talked about the fact that there are certain shows on the service that “people don’t like,” which he said stems from the fact that Netflix produces content for an audience of nearly 1 billion people worldwide. “If we’re doing it right, there are things in the service that (some people) think are bad, that they don’t like, that they think might be harmful. That’s our business,” Peters said.
In the first two quarters of this year, Netflix beat Wall Street expectations in revenue and revenue. As of the first quarter of 2025, the company does not regularly report subscriber numbers as it wants to focus on financials and user engagement. In its second quarter earnings call, Netflix raised its full-year 2025 revenue forecast to a range of $44.8 billion to $45.2 billion (previously $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion), which is expected to grow 15% to 16% year-over-year, primarily due to the recent weakness in the US dollar. The company plans to announce its third-quarter financial results after the market closes on October 21st.
Peters was named co-CEO of Netflix alongside Ted Sarandos in January 2023, following the retirement of Reed Hastings. Mr. Peters previously served as Chief Product Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
