At least we’re streaming together.

"Anyone who got started in the business during the late 2010s probably feels like they got in just at the tail end of a good thing — not the golden age but at least the golden hour."

Hello everyone. I just finished reading this story in The New York Times about the Gilded Age-ification of menu items across the city. It reflects one of my main takeaways from this current holiday season, which is that everyone needs to cool it with serving mid-tier caviar to guests who barely touch it. Gluttony is a sin.

Today’s letter includes: An *exclusive* on the first two journalists hired at the Puck alumni-founded food media company, Teddy Kim on Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Karoline Leavitt’s lips, and my disappointment with The RealReal’s year-end report.

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Stay Tuned is a guest column on Feed Me written by Teddy Kim. In this column, Teddy writes about when entertainment comes in contact with tech — and the implications of that. You can read his last column here, which argues that Eddington touches every third-rail issue of the last five years.

The Last Picture Studio.

The news about the Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery broke when I was on my way back from a launch party for a friend’s olive brine startup the first week of December. The party was full of former talent agency assistants, like myself, and we commiserated about spending our mid-20s running around the City of Angels and getting hazed by our bosses. Anyone who got started in the business during the late 2010s, before COVID hit, probably feels like they got in just at the tail end of a good thing — not the golden age but at least the golden hour, the heyday of American cinema behind us, but still in sight. Little did we know, sipping our briny martinis, that it would be the last night you could really tell yourself that story.

I wrote a short blurb about the deal when it broke, but I wanted to come back to it again because there are so many interesting angles to explore. Here’s what you need to know, as well as my thoughts on what it all means for the industry:

What’s on the table?

Netflix made an offer to Warner Bros. Discovery, which they accepted, to buy their studio and streaming assets (HBO Max) for $72 billion, $83 billion including debt. That acquisition does not include Discovery Global’s cable networks like CNN, TNT, etc. If the deal fails to close, including for regulatory reasons, Netflix would owe WBD a $5.8 billion reverse breakup fee. If WBD changed its mind, it’d have to pay Netflix a $2.8 billion breakup fee.

Paramount Skydance, now controlled by David Ellison and his family, was bidding for WBD before Netflix got involved. After the WBD board accepted Netflix’s deal, Paramount came in and made a $108 billion hostile tender offer directly to WBD shareholders. Paramount’s offer is higher than Netflix’s for the same assets, but Paramount is trying to buy the entire company, including those cable networks. Paramount’s valuation of those networks is on the low end though, around $2.5 billion. So the more those networks are actually worth, the worse Paramount’s offer is compared to Netflix’s. WBD’s board already recommended that shareholders reject the Paramount offer.

Who wins? What’s the better deal?