Bela Bajaria said Netflix had moved on from its failed $83B attempt to buy Warner Bros. Discovery and had no regrets about passing on the deal. Speaking at MIPCOM, she described the company as disciplined about price and said Netflix would keep backing its own slate rather than chase an expensive takeover.
“always a nice to have at a certain price, not a must have at any price,” she said of Warner Bros. Discovery. Bajaria also said, “We were never going to [spend over the odds].” The remarks put a number on how far Netflix was willing to go, and how far it was not.
Bela Bajaria at MIPCOM
The comments came after Warner Bros. Discovery ended up selling to David Ellison’s Paramount-Skydance for $110B. That leaves Netflix outside the deal and still focused on the same spending plan Bajaria described in France, where she said the company would keep “doing what we’re doing with the same investment, keeping our eye on the ball, making great things that people love around the world.”
She added that Netflix is “financially disciplined” and said, “We knew what we had and what the opportunity was.” In practical terms, the company chose not to stretch for an asset it viewed as desirable but not essential, even as a rival offer went higher.
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery
Bajaria said Netflix reaches around 5% of global audiences’ TV time, and that the service keeps expanding while maintaining its investment pace. She pointed to Below as an example, saying the Canadian original is number one in more than 80 countries including France.
She also said Netflix members have “lots of different moods and tastes,” and that “We don’t programme for a narrow demographic.” For viewers, that means the company is signaling more of the same release pattern rather than a reset around a bought-in library of Warner Bros. Discovery titles.
The open question is how high Netflix was willing to go before walking away. Bajaria’s comments draw a clear line: the company will spend, but not over the odds, and the next phase looks like more investment in its own programming rather than another bid for a rival studio.
Below in more than 80 countries
Bajaria said Netflix will continue to “expand” and that it has kept growing its investment when others have scaled back at different times. That is the operational takeaway for subscribers: the company is keeping the same course on spending, release volume and global reach, not redirecting resources into a buyout it chose not to win.
