Netflix says no regrets after losing Warner Bros. Discovery bid
Netflix never planned to pay any price for Warner Bros. Discovery. Content chief Bela Bajaria told an audience in Cannes on Oct. 12 that the streamer stayed disciplined and walked away without regrets.
She backed co-chief executive Ted Sarandos in calling Warner Bros. Discovery "always a nice to have at a certain price, not a must have at any price." Netflix offered $83 billion for the studio. David Ellison's Paramount-Skydance bought it for $110 billion instead, in a deal that created Skydance, Deadline reported.
Bajaria was speaking at Mipcom, the annual international market where producers sell series and formats to buyers. The event runs Oct. 12-15 in Cannes. She appeared in a keynote conversation with Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton to accept the Variety Vanguard Award for her work in the global content business.
She had no regrets. Bajaria said Netflix was never going to spend over the odds and described the company as financially disciplined. Netflix accounts for around 5% of global audiences' TV time, she said, and works to an annual content budget of $20 billion.
That budget is organised into 27 local teams around the world. Bajaria, who joined Netflix in 2016, said those teams make shows in 50 languages for more than 50 countries, Variety reported. Her superpower, she said, is hiring really great people and letting them do their job.
The results travel. Bajaria said Canadian original Below is number one in more than 80 countries including France. Netflix invests €250 million ($279 million) a year in film and TV in France, and has committed to spend $1 billion in Mexico between 2025 and 2028.
For viewers, this means the schedule keeps coming from many places at once. The award session, listed as the Variety Vanguard Award and Fireside Chat in the Grand Auditorium from 14:00 to 14:30, put that system centre stage rather than any single title, according to the Mipcom programme.
