WSJ What’s News - The $72 Billion Netflix Deal Now Needs the Trump Administration’s Blessing

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

P.M. Edition for Dec. 5. The streaming company won the fight for Warner Bros. in a deal that would shake up Hollywood. But first it has to win approval from the Trump administration, which is already scrutinizing the acquisition, as Wall Street Journal entertainment reporter Joe Flint explains. And a key vaccine panel at the CDC voted to drop a longtime recommendation that all newborns get a first dose of hepatitis B vaccine. WSJ reporter Sabrina Siddiqui covered the vote. Plus, the WSJ reports that SpaceX is kicking off a secondary stock sale that would value the company at $800 billion, ahead of a potential IPO for the rocket maker next year. Pierre Bienaimé hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca. slash yes. Terms and conditions apply. Netflix is buying Warner Brothers for $72 billion in a huge Hollywood deal, but is a huge fight next. Plus, a CDC panel remade by RFK Jr. votes to drop long-time hepatitis B recommendations for newborns. Kennedy pushed out all the previous members who were longtime public health and infectious disease experts. So you had people who are presenting on the hepatitis B vaccine, who are longtime anti-vaccine activists. And Western buyers line up for Israel's latest military technology.

It's Friday, December 5th. I'm Pierre Bienname for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Oslo. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that moved the world today. First up, we have an update on that Netflix deal we mentioned on the news. this morning's show. The streaming giant has agreed to buy Warner Brothers Discovery's studios and HBO Max streaming service for $72 billion, beating out Paramount and Comcast. On an investor call this morning, Netflix's co-chief executive Ted Sarandos acknowledged that some were surprised by the deal, the company's largest acquisition ever.

This is a rare opportunity. It's going to help us achieve our mission to entertain the world and to bring people together through great stories. Wall Street Journal Entertainment reporter Joe Flint says the deal would change Netflix across the board and could shake up the theater industry. Going forward, when Netflix is really calling the shots there, how committed will they be to the traditional theatrical release? We know the company doesn't love it. So certainly it is safe to say that if Netflix does continue with a theatrical model for Warner Brothers, they are going to really try to shorten those windows between how long a movie is in the theaters and when it can be elsewhere. And after the dramatic auction process for Warner, there may still be more drama to come.

People familiar with the matter say Paramount, which also made a bid, is now weighing its next move. And Joe Flint says antitrust scrutiny is going to be significant. A senior Trump administration official said today that the president's advisors are concerned about the Netflix deal. And Netflix has agreed to pay Warner what's called a breakup fee of $5.8 billion if the deal falls through because the companies don't get the approvals they need. To hear Netflix and Warner talk about it, this deal is going to sail right through, but to talk to Paramount, which of course lost out, and to various antitrust lawyers and even a few former regulators I've chatted with,

this deal is going to face a lot of challenges. The real question for Netflix will be how the Department of Justice views the streaming landscape and competition. Netflix would tell you they compete with everyone. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Fortnite, sleep. Anything that can keep you away from a Netflix screen is a competitor to them. But DOJ experts don't see it as broadly as that. That's where Netflix could face some challenges because combined with HBO,

they would have over 30% of the subscription streaming marketplace in the U.S. And that's kind of a trigger point when you hit that 30% mark that borders into prove you're not doing something wrong material. We're seeing people on both sides of the aisle politically weigh in against this deal. Elizabeth Warren this morning put out a statement. There's been statements from some Republican senators as well. So it's going to be a fight. That was WSJ reporter, Joe Flint.

We exclusively report that Elon Musk's SpaceX is kicking off a secondary stock sale that would value the rocket maker at $800 billion, surpassing OpenAI to make it the most valuable U.S. private company. ahead of a potential IPO next year. That's according to people familiar with the matter. There's no guarantee SpaceX will reach the $800 billion value it's aiming for. The secondary share sale allows employees and investors to cash out their existing shares in a company that is nearly 25 years old and hasn't yet gone public. People familiar with the matter say SpaceX executives are weighing a potential initial public offering in 2026.

The company's investors have been waiting for an IPO for years, as SpaceX has grown into an essential service for the U.S. government, launching satellites and astronauts, as well as a global internet provider. SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. In Washington, regulators have rolled back rules put in place after the 2008 financial crisis that limited the risk banks could take in corporate lending. Those restrictions fueled the boom in lending by big private investment funds, which stepped into the gap to make riskier loans for companies like private equity targets

as well as unprofitable tech startups. Today, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the 2013 guidance on banks was, quote, overly restrictive. A key vaccine panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has voted to drop the recommendation that all newborns get the hepatitis B vaccine. That guidance has been in place since 1991, and scientists say that giving the shot to,

babies in their first hours of life has helped cut down on hepatitis B infections, which can lead to liver damage, cancer, and death. Sabrina Siddiqui covered the CDC vote for the Wall Street Journal. Sabrina, the vaccine panel voted eight to three to change this guidance. Why did they vote this way? Proponents of this change argued that there's not enough information about potential risks of the hepatitis B vaccine. And they argue that most babies aren't likely to contract the virus. One of the big criticisms of this panel, the advisory committee on immunization practices, since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became Health and Human Services Secretary, is that it's been stacked with vaccine skeptics, where he handpicked the members. And that happened after Kennedy

pushed out all the previous members who were longtime public health and infectious disease experts. So you had people who were presenting on the hepatitis B vaccine who are longtime anti-vaccine activists. So this vote took place. The acting CDC director needs to approve of that. And if he does, do newborns not get hepatitis B shots anymore? Or what's the situation? The way this recommendation is going to work is that if a baby's mother test negative for hepatitis B, then parents, should consult a doctor about whether or not the baby needs an early vaccine dose. And the recommendation also says that infants who skip the birth dose shouldn't receive their first dose until they're at least two months of age. That doesn't mean that parents who want the birth dose would not have access to it.

But vaccines are typically covered based on the recommendations of this exact committee. So while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is saying that, they will continue to cover the hepatitis B birth dose, you might see private insurers drop that coverage for some babies. And how have public health experts responded to this vote? There's been widespread criticism from public health experts. Because the hepatitis B test is typically done in the first trimester, there are women who could still test positive later in pregnancy. There are also some women who might not get tested at all. And then the virus, virus can also spread through other shared surfaces, such as towels, washcloths, and

toothbrushes. The number of children diagnosed with hepatitis B in the United States has fallen dramatically since they first began recommending the birth dose. And one thing that we've heard public health experts talk about is that about 90% of infants with hepatitis B will develop a chronic infection, according to the CDC. That was the Wall Street Journal's Sabrina Siddiqui. Sabrina, thank you so much. Thank you.

Coming up, President Trump's new national security strategy takes aim at a traditional ally, Europe. And we take you to the weapons conference in Israel attended by government officials from around the world. That's after the break. This week, government officials from countries, including the U.S., India, Canada, Germany, and Norway, as well as private investors and industry executives, went to a weapons conference in Tel Aviv. Anat Paled is a Wall Street Journal reporter based in Tel Aviv, and she joins me now. Anat, you were at this conference. What did you see there?

So we had about 2,000 people attending many officials from the European Union and also countries that have been critical of Israel's conduct in the war, like Norway and the U.K. And so in one session during the conference, Ron Gozali, the CEO of UVision Air, which is a loitering munitions company, so suicide drones, basically pulls up a few clips on a big screen on stage and says he's been cleared to show us these clips. They'd show suicide drones hitting buildings in Gaza, and you see the smoke. A lot of startups at the conference were really brandishing those credentials saying this works. A lot of countries are interested in this technology because it's battle tested in the fields. A lot of the attendees are from countries that have criticized how Israel has conducted the war in Gaza. So why are they there?

Yeah, from my conversations with them, there was a few factors that went into this. One is that there is a ceasefire in Gaza. So some countries like Germany feel more comfortable going back to doing business with Israel. Probably an even more important factor is that many of these countries, are feeling this looming threat of Russia. And they feel like they're running out of time because if things don't go well in Ukraine, they very much feel that they could be next.

So what we're seeing is that despite Israeli isolation throughout the wars, the weapons are still very much desired around the world and especially by Europeans, which have been some of the biggest critics of the war. And how is the Israeli weapons industry doing overall? Defense tech has become a huge field in Israel and was developed very fast because of the war.

Israeli arms exports broke a record in 2024, reaching $14.8 billion, despite calls for boycotts and some boycotts of Israeli weapons. Now, what's interesting is that Europe was the biggest buyer of Israeli defense tech last year, accounting for 54% of exports compared with 35% in 2023. That's according to Israel's defense ministry. Anna, thanks so much. Thanks for having me. President Trump has issued a new national security strategy document that criticizes European leaders over the war in Ukraine and calls for an end to NATO expansion. It says Europe needs to be responsible for its own defense.

The strategy lays bare the growing divide between the U.S. and Europe, as many European leaders fear Washington's push for a peace deal will come at Ukraine's expense. The strategy also says the U.S. must strengthen military capabilities in the Pacific to head off potential aggression by the Chinese. And one of the president's signature policies is returning to the Supreme Court, which today agreed to decide whether he can end the practice of granting citizenship to children born in the U.S. A lower court had ruled that the executive order limiting birthright citizenship was unconstitutional. In markets today, the Netflix deal made waves. The company's shares closed down 2.9% while Warner stock

shot up 6.3%. Paramount stock dropped nearly 10% and shares of movie theaters sank. The NASDAQ led today's overall market gains, closing up 0.3%. And that's what's news for this week. Tomorrow, you can look out for our weekly markets wrap-up, What's News in Markets. Then on What's News Sunday, we'll take a look at the growing push to ban social media for children. And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning. Today's show is produced by Julie Chang with supervising producer Tali Arbell. Michael LaValle wrote our theme music. Jessica Fenton is our technical manager, Aisha al-Muslim is our development producer.

Chris Sinsley is our deputy editor. And Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. I'm Pierre Bien-Ame. Thanks for listening.