According to Fortune, Netflix is lining up a massive $59 billion unsecured bridge loan from Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, and HSBC to finance its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal, announced Friday, will pay Warner Bros. shareholders $27.75 per share in a mix of cash and Netflix stock. The total equity value sits at $72 billion, with the full enterprise value hitting about $82.7 billion. This bridge loan is a temporary financing step, typically replaced later by corporate bonds or other permanent debt. At $59 billion, it ranks among the biggest bridge loans ever, trailing only the $75 billion loan for Anheuser-Busch’s 2015 buyout of SABMiller.
The Staggering Scale of Streaming Debt
Let’s just sit with that number for a second: fifty-nine billion dollars. In debt. For a company that, not too long ago, was the poster child for a simple, subscription-driven business model. This isn’t just a big loan; it’s a historic one. It basically signals that the era of streaming being a pure, asset-light tech play is completely over. Now, it’s a brutal scale game fought with legacy media libraries and production studios. Netflix is buying not just content, but an entire century-old factory for making it. The sheer size of this bridge financing tells you everything about the pressure Netflix feels to own, not just license, the crown jewels of entertainment. Can its cash flow even support the interest on this, let alone pay it down? That’s the multi-billion dollar question.
Who Wins and Who Gets Squeezed?
For Warner Bros. shareholders, this is probably a great exit. They’re getting a solid cash-and-stock premium. But for everyone else? The implications are messy. For users, I think we’ll see even less content hopping between services. Want to watch “Harry Potter,” “Game of Thrones,” or new DC movies? You’re almost certainly going to need a Netflix subscription. That’s more convenience, maybe, but also less competition and choice in the long run. And for the creative community? It’s a double-edged sword. A single, deep-pocketed buyer for massive projects is good. But having one less major studio to pitch to? That concentrates power enormously. Basically, the entire Hollywood ecosystem just got a lot smaller.
Why Banks Are Making This Bet
Here’s the thing about those banks—Wells Fargo, BNP, HSBC. They’re not just providing a loan; they’re buying a relationship. Bridge loans like this are often loss-leaders. The fees might not cover the risk on paper, but the prize is becoming Netflix’s go-to bank for the higher-margin work later: issuing those permanent bonds, managing cash, advising on future deals. They’re betting that Netflix, as this new entertainment behemoth, will be a financial services cash cow for decades. It’s a long-term relationship play with an absolutely enormous balance sheet. If Netflix stumbles under this debt load, though, that bet looks terrible. So everyone, from the banks to the shareholders, is now fully invested in Netflix’s continued dominance. No pressure.
