Casey Bloys, senior executive at Netflix?
In an interview with Stratechery’s Ben Thompson, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said he and (fellow co-CEO) Ted Sarandos plan to keep “the HBO team” intact post-acquisition. Considering what Blois and his colleagues have done, this is a smart move. It has been achieved, and although most experts in the industry expected it, it had not been so clearly confirmed before.
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What Netflix plans to do with HBO/Max It’s still a bit unclear from the integrated POV.
Asked whether HBO (Max) and Netflix would become one or two services following Netflix’s impending acquisition of Warner Bros., Peters responded: “That’s something we want to address and we’ve got some ideas [to do]”.
“We want to do more work on this,” Peters continued. “We know from working with other suppliers that there are benefits to doing this. We can achieve a win-win situation. We can make a better product for the consumer, which ultimately lowers the price, and it works better for the business – we know it’s possible.”
Netflix hasn’t actually integrated other streamers into its service before, but it’s recently bundled it with various other streamers. Netflix and AMC have an ongoing agreement in which various AMC and AMC Studios shows can be streamed and spotlighted on Netflix under the “AMC Collection.”
Whether it ends up being NetflixHBOMax, Netflix + HBO Max, or “HBO Collection” on Netflix, Peters knows talent when he sees it. He plans to retain the “HBO team” that his co-CEO Sarandos has been fighting for the best content for years. This statement of trust is in response to questions about retaining HBO HBO.
“I’m very confident about this because we’re going to retain the HBO team, and the HBO team is great at working with this talent and giving them the environment they need to tell these great stories,” Peters said. “They can do that under a great brand that resonates with the type of programming they want to produce, and we’ll give them a bigger audience.”
It sounds like Bloyce (HBO CEO) and Francesca Orsi (HBO executive vice president of programming and head of HBO series and movies) jobs — and possibly others’ — are safe.
In November, when asked hollywood reporter Bloys was dismissive of his job security after the acquisition – when Paramount was in the lead.
“A few weeks ago, I had a town hall meeting and I said, ‘The only thing you can do in this process, the best thing you can do, is focus on your job, which is to make the most impactful show of any genre,'” Bloys said at the time.
“It’s a bit of a waste of energy because I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Bloys added. “That being said, I’m obviously very proud of what we’ve done at HBO and HBO Max. I’d like to see that continue. We’ve all been at HBO for a long time. I’m proud of our track record, but you have to go into these processes with an open mind. And a lot of things are out of our control.”
Apparently, Peters is on a limited media tour targeting financial publications in response to Netflix’s stock price hitting a 52-week low. Wall Street isn’t enthusiastic about Netflix’s plan to acquire Warner Bros. Studios and Streaming (and HBO) for $83 billion in all cash. No one liked the plan more than Paramount Skydance chairman David Ellison, who put in a bid. Ellison wants all shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and is willing to pay $108 billion for the entire acquisition.
in a separate conversation financial timesPeters said Paramount’s offer “didn’t pass the sniff test.” Paramount backer Redbird Capital objects to this – read it over and over again here .
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