A merger captures the public interest or at least in media and it seems to be the hot project. Eventually one company wins and the other has a larger bank account, but the executives have spent time and energy on the possibility of what happens if they won. For most companies there is a let down because the plans have gone astray. What happens next?

In an article by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine of Reuters, the question was asked about Netflix which recently lost when Paramount SkyDance offered more money for Warner Bros Discovery. Netflix was willing to pay $72 billion to shore up its library and augment its intellectual property with Harry Potter and Game of Thrones because creating franchises has proven challenging.

Franchises can be valuable for entertainment companies because they are lower-risk investments that can bring in ancillary revenue through merchandise sales and in-person experiences.

Netflix purchased the rights to comic book publisher, Millarworld and one of the franchises that came from it is Stranger Things. Besides the series, a stage play and merchandise has been created.

However with every success, there are failures, a $700 deal to buy Roald Dahl’s catalogue which includes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has yet to produce a major hit.

Producing consistent hits that spawn net series helps to attract and retain the subscribers and create engagement which grew by 2% in the second half of 2025, according to media consultant Owl & Co. Netflix’s top-line growth is expected to be in the range of 13%, compared to 16% in 2025.

On the TV side, according to Nielsen’s media distribution gauge, YouTube and Disney have consistently beaten Netflix in share of TV viewing since October 2024.

Netflix does have $2.8 billion from the failed merger as it had accumulated stock in Warner Bros and sold it off. In the movie industry there are always some projects that people are working on. Some will be good, some will not be.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every successful company loves to have an extensive library to pull out of the vault and sell to a new audience. The trick is accumulating the library at relatively low cost and selling it and cross selling it in the future at higher prices. What assets does the company you invest in that was bought at low prices, can be held on for years in the future to sell at higher prices?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.