Netflix co-chief executive Greg Peters said he was “nervous” about severe job cuts in Hollywood as Paramount begins to swallow up its longtime rival Warner Bros Discovery.
Speaking days after Netflix pulled out of the battle for WBD, Peters said “a bunch of people are going to lose their jobs” under Paramount, which has said about $6bn in synergies would be made as part of the merger of its studio, streaming and news services with Warner Bros.
But Netflix had estimated Paramount would have to cut $16bn to make its deal work, given the $111bn price tag of its WBD acquisition. The tie-up came seven months after David Ellison closed the merger of his company, Skydance, with Paramount.