Technology

Welcome to the big leagues, Netflix

Published

1 day ago

December 6, 2025

Warner Bros. has an infamous history of being bought by other companies and then quickly ending up back on the market after its new owners realize how difficult it is to capitalize on a legacy production studio’s assets. Those challenges are part of what doomed WB’s mergers with AOL and AT&T, who bought the studio in attempts to reinvent themselves. But WB’s latest acquisition deal — this time with Netflix for $83 billion — feels like it has the potential to turn out differently because of how much of a major player within the entertainment industry the streamer has become. It also signals just how far Netflix has come: in less than two decades the streamer has gone from tech upstart to subsuming one of the most storied studios in Hollywood.

Assuming that the deal receives regulatory approval, Netflix will soon own the entirety of Warner Bros.’ (but not Discovery Global’s) assets, which includes HBO / HBO Max, DC Studios, and the legacy studio’s television and film production arms. This would make Netflix the corporate home to many more of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises, like Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, and give the streamer a much larger operational footprint as a proper studio. Discovery Global — which retains ownership of networks including CNN, the Discovery Channel, and TLC — is set to become an independent corporate entity by Q3 in 2026.

This strategic bifurcation and sale of assets was obviously WBD’s desired outcome when the company first announced earlier this year that it planned to split Warner Bros. and Discovery back into two units. Back then, CEO David Zaslav had not yet announced that the company was open to acquisition offers. But you could glean as much from looking at the way that WBD was struggling to turn a profit with its linear cable networks.

Even though WBD managed to pay down a substantial portion of the $55 billion debt it inherited when Discovery bought WarnerMedia, the merged company’s flagging cable TV assets were a major factor in it receiving a significantly downgraded credit score earlier this year. That debt — a holdover from AOL’s disastrous merger with Time Warner — loomed over WBD for the entirety of Zaslav’s tenure as CEO.

A blend of money problems, misguided rebrands, and multiple rounds of layoffs left WBD in a very precarious position that made selling itself off to the highest bidder one of its only viable options to appease shareholders. Those challenges might also be difficult for Netflix to deal with, but this situation feels like it could shake out very differently for a handful of key reasons.

Unlike previous mergers where Warner Bros. was gobbled up by traditional tech giants and telecoms, the new deal is coming at a time when Netflix has long since established itself as a Hollywood power player. In addition to acquiring IP that goes on to become hits, the streamer has built out a robust production infrastructure to spin up wholly original projects of its own. And with many of the platform’s subscriber-generating projects like Stranger Things and Squid Game coming to an end, it’s easy to understand why it wanted to scoop up Warner Bros.’ sizable library of films and series. Netflix doesn’t have the strongest track record of building its own franchises — remember Rebel Moon? — and that’s exactly what it’s getting with WB.

Though Netflix feels like a better acquisition partner compared to Warner Bros.’ previous owners, this is still a consolidation and these kinds of mergers always come with casualties. And it is likely that we will soon start hearing about layoffs as Netflix begins dealing with internal redundancies created by its absorption of Warner Bros.’ employees and operations. But what is much less clear is how the newly merged studio will go about releasing its new projects.

In 2021 during the covid-19 pandemic’s height, WBD’s decision to debut movies on HBO Max as opposed to theaters prompted directors like Christopher Nolan to denounce the company for becoming “the worst streaming service.” Though box office numbers still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, theaters have reopened, and breakout hits like Warner Bros.’ A Minecraft Movie and Superman features have made it clear that there is a demand to see movies on the big screen. Netflix has experimented with very limited theatrical releases that transparently read as plays to qualify its movies for major industry awards. But it has still primarily been a streaming company in the years since it got out of the DVD game.

Unlike MGM, which was on the decline when Amazon bought it, Warner Bros. has had a very strong track record with its recent theatrical releases. Netflix has said that it “expects” to keep putting Warner Bros.’ movies in theaters, but co-CEO Ted Sarandos has signaled that the company is thinking about shortening its theatrical windows in order to “meet the audience where they are quicker.”

“I’d say right now, you should count on everything that is planned on going to the theater through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros. and Netflix movies will take the same strides they have,” Sarandos said this week in a call with industry analysts.

Netflix has also made abundantly clear that it is open to cutting production costs by using generative AI. The company has not mandated that its collaborators use the technology as part of their production workflows, but it is easy to imagine gen AI becoming a bigger part of the studio now that it has taken on all of the projects Warner Bros. has in development.

The more glaring concern to come out of the new merger is the way that this could impact competition between the major studios and streaming platforms. Netflix has effectively replaced Warner Bros. as one of the Big Five, which will likely change the entertainment industry’s power dynamics. But streaming customers will probably feel these shifts more directly as Netflix and its competitors settle into a new status quo.

Netflix’s prices could go up yet again under the auspice that the service has become more premium with Warner Bros.’ offerings. It’s still not clear how Netflix will handle the HBO / Max brands long term. The company has said that it thinks “HBO and HBO Max also provide a compelling, complementary offering for consumers,” but it would not be surprising to see those brands ultimately going the way of Hulu, which has been turned into a section within Disney Plus.

It has been years since Netflix was a rowdy upstart fighting to be taken seriously. But even though the company has already cemented itself as the world’s biggest TV / movie streamer, this new deal will take it to a different level of prominence. The Netflix / WBD merger will undoubtedly result in changes — some of them bad — that reverberate through the entire entertainment landscape.

But as tumultuous as things will likely feel in the immediate future, it doesn’t seem likely that Netflix will end up trying to sell off Warner Bros. in a couple of years. Acquisitions of this scale aren’t the company’s usual MO, but it has been bullish about wanting Warner Bros. since the studio went on sale. If the deal goes through, Netflix is undoubtedly in the big leagues — now it has to prove it belongs.

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Charles Pulliam-Moore

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Technology

Red Dead Redemption is so back

Published

4 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Press Room

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 108, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope your holiday shopping is going well, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reading about Ariana Grande and pelvic floors and Josh Shapiro and Las Vegas, finishing and then immediately rewatching The Chair Company, working by the light of this extremely rad MoMA lamp, installing a bunch of Hue Dimmer Switches around my house, trying desperately to hide the giant box that came with my new Frame TV, wondering if my 12,983 minutes of Spotify time this year is a lot or a little, and getting my Christmas tree out of storage. Which took some work.

I also have for you a 15-year-old game that feels as good as new, a great new entrant in the Wrapped Wars, a couple of fun productivity tools, and much more. Year’s almost over, but the new stuff keeps coming! Let’s dig in.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reading / listening to / playing / wrapping with a bow this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)

Red Dead Redemption. If you just off-handedly asked me my favorite modern video games, without thinking about it I’d probably say Red Dead and the Arkham Batman series. Cool to see the 2010 game come to mobile (though for Netflix subscribers only), even cooler to see it updated for modern consoles, including my beloved Switch 2. I haven’t checked in with John Martson in a while, but I’m confident this one has held up.
Fizzy. From the folks behind Hey and Basecamp, a really nifty new kanban tool that reminds me of Trello, only both more chaotic and much cleaner. It’s really fast, and my brain loves a good project-management board… plus, it’s open-source, so it might spawn some other really fun stuff.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. I know at least a few folks who have been waiting for this game to see if it completes the appeal of the Switch 2. By all accounts, it seems to be handily worth the price of admission, even if there’s some “modern games!” cruft in the mix.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley. I keep hearing things about this doc, about Buckley’s life and the remarkable album he made, Grace. This will not be a joyful watch, I suspect, but for anyone who loves even just his version of “Hallelujah,” it’s worth the watch.
YouTube Recap. This is Wrapped Week, so everybody from Spotify to Google Photos is rolling out years in review. I love YouTube’s already, since it just feels the most revealing about my actual personality. It also made it clear that I watch, uh, too much YouTube.
Mirumi. This furry little robot was one of the delights of last CES, and is now finally becoming real. (Real-ish, anyway — it’s still a Kickstarter project.) It’s pretty expensive, given that it does, you know, nothing! But I mean, look at it.
Halo. The team at Matter continues to have the best-looking reading app on the planet, and their new habit tracker for iOS looks just as good. Some potentially interesting, potentially annoying AI stuff in here, but even the basic tracker stuff is just lovely to look at and use.
Routine. After more than a decade of start-and-stop development, this game turned into an unusual, engrossing, deeply fun and deeply stressful sci-fi title for PC and Xbox. One of those games I can tell I’m going to enjoy just from the vibe of the trailer.
Notion Calendar. This is such a dumb, small thing: Notion finally updated this app so you can hide the right sidebar! Now it’s all calendar and no nonsense. This was already my daily driver calendar app, but for some reason that tiny change makes me like it even more.

Here are two of the fun things about working with The Verge’s Jess Weatherbed: she has a deep knowledge of creative tools and always writes fascinating stuff about how people make art in the future, and it seems every single time we’re in a meeting together she has completely reorganized and redesigned her home office. Every time the Meet loads, Jess has some new treasure in the background.

Jess is as much an artist and designer as she is a tech reporter, and I’m also told she’s a very accomplished D&D player. I asked her to share her homescreen with us to see how all those interests smash together into a single device. I was not disappointed.

Here’s Jess’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps she uses and why:

The phone: I currently have an iPhone 14 Pro Max, but not for much longer; I’m literally waiting on my new iPhone 17 Pro Max to arrive. I was mostly enticed by the iPhone 17 Pro in a glorious orange, which, after begging Apple to remember that color exists for the past few years, felt too personal to ignore.

The wallpaper: The wallpaper itself is nothing special, just some unwatermarked stock imagery I found a while back. I like how it’s a photograph that shows some texture instead of a flat digital image, but I mostly just wanted something colorful to complement the image widgets I have.

The shots on my main screen were taken from a tokusatsu-inspired photoshoot for W Magazine’s 2023 feature “Jennifer Coolidge Will Destroy You.” I absolutely adore Coolidge and kaiju- / mecha-related media, so when I saw the shoot I became kinda obsessed?? I’m planning to get a few images blown up into hi-res posters that I can frame in my hallway. I just feel so much joy every time I look at them.

The photo on my second homescreen page is my cat, Trevor. He’s a silly 12-month-old Maine Coon who’s totally mastered the art of rage-baiting me. We have the same birthday. It was fate.

The apps: Settings, Calendar, Clock, App Store, Camera, Slack, WhatsApp, Messenger, Phone, Chrome, Discord, TikTok.

I don’t think my apps are anything special. I keep the most-used selection loose on my main homescreen, and everything is tinted yellow because it matches the overall vibe and also feels easier on my eyes. I have a Spotify widget because I like having the album art of whatever I’m listening to on my screen. I’m also stuck with Facebook Messenger because my family exclusively uses it to chat; otherwise I only message friends using WhatsApp or Discord. I can’t remember the last time I actually texted someone.

The mess on my second homescreen page is actually incredibly organized for me. I have folders for all my apps, like “games and entertainment,” “shopping,” and “useful crap” for anything that doesn’t fit into other categories.

Some of my current favorite apps include Focus Friend, which is a fun gamified focus timer that helps me keep my ADHD in check, and Next Spaceflight, which tells you about upcoming rocket launches and space missions. I also love learning about what’s around me, so I use apps like Merlin Bird ID and Seek by iNaturalist to identify birds and plants, and because I live on the coast, MarineTraffic to ID passing ships. It’s like a flight tracker, but for boats!

I also asked Jess to share a few things she’s into right now. Here’s what she sent back:

I’ve been trying to cut down on my TikTok consumption, but I’ve really been enjoying two accounts lately. The first is @drinksonmemusic, who posts “Beat Battle” challenges with @southbymusic where both lads will make electronic remix tunes based on randomized, often ridiculous prompts. It’s fun, silly, and makes me feel energized.
The second account is @shef_phoenix, which is a cooking channel that mostly experiments with making small food big and big food small (though it’s nice to see that he’s been branching out into other cooking projects). The guy has been hounded into trying to make a “giant grape,” and watching that madness unfold has entertained me greatly.
Outside of TikTok, I’ve most enjoyed watching Dropout these last few months. The cast and shows are fantastically funny, and it’s something that I can reliably throw on in the background when friends come over, which eventually catches all of our attention. Worth every penny.
Comics have also recaptured my attention lately as I’ve attempted to walk back my screen time. I’ve been re-reading Cerebus the Aardvark, which I first found decades ago in my family’s attic, the Hellboy omnibus, and DC’s Absolute Universe. I’ve especially enjoyed Absolute Batman, which feels like something the old edgy teenage me would have been obsessed with.

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.

“Haven’t played online multiplayer shooters since Halo 3 and COD 4 days, but Arc Raiders has turned that all around. Solo or with some friends, this game has been an obsession. Almost at 40 hours of play time and I only got it a few weeks ago. Been playing this on the Steam Deck and it runs like a dream.” — Mike

“I just got my Nomad! Super excited for a rugged portable speaker — and the promise of CarPlay in my Tesla.” — Zebulon

“Switching over more light switches to Tapo Matter switches. Have had some installed for the past six months, and appreciate that they just work when disconnected from Wi-Fi or when we have guests over.” — Tim

“The Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake LED. Amazing, and hard to get.” — Chris

“My Retroid Pocket G2 showed up today. Sean already had an article about Valve funding Fex for Android / PC emulation, and with Winlator and Gamehub, there are some amazing options for emulating steam games on handhelds. Some of them get better performance than a Steam Deck!” — Cameron

“The new Enterprise model from Lego might take the win for IP blend of the year. My geek gauge broke.” — David

“Buying a BenQ ScreenBar Pro LED light bar for my monitor was the best home office upgrade I’ve done in a long time. It just mounts on top of your monitor and your webcam mounts on top of the light bar. Very nice light for your workspace and perfect when you’re working late with kids sleeping nearby.” — Shady

“I’ve been obsessed with Vampires SMP as of late, a narrative roleplay series set within Minecraft with an insanely fun and dramatic cast. I can’t stop thinking about this show and its characters to a degree that few TV shows have managed.” — Eris

“Spreading managed democracy in Helldivers 2 is awesome.” — Ani

I’ve written a bunch here in the last few weeks about Raycast, the launcher / note-taker / AI chat / many other things app that has become a key part of my computing life. (I also had Thomas Paul Mann, the company’s CEO, on The Vergecast last weekend.) I’ve heard from a bunch of you that you want to know more about how to use Raycast. This is a good idea! Especially now that it’s on Windows, a Raycast deep dive is a good idea, and I’m on it. But in the meantime, you should check out Raycast’s YouTube channel, which is as good a set of product videos as you’ll find — some deep dives on features, some user interviews, lots of good stuff. The “101 Things You Can Do With Raycast” video is also a fabulous place to start. I find new things every time I watch it.

More to come, though. I love Raycast, I know a lot of you do too, and we’ll get in the weeds on how to make the most of it. If you have tips / favorite features, send them my way!

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.

David Pierce

Technology

Solar water platforms may solve a major air taxi hurdle

Published

5 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Press Room

Solar water platforms may solve a major air taxi hurdle

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Air taxis keep gaining momentum, yet one challenge keeps resurfacing: many cities have few places for them to land. AutoFlight believes it has an answer. The company introduced a zero-carbon water vertiport that moves across rivers, lakes or coastal zones. This solar-powered platform works as a mobile hub for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and aims to remove one of the biggest barriers to growth.

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THE WORLD’S FIRST FLYING CAR IS READY FOR TAKEOFF

AutoFlight’s solar-powered water vertiport shows how air taxis could finally gain flexible landing spots. (AutoFlight)

The landing bottleneck that held air taxis back

eVTOL air taxis promise quick trips that jump over traffic and turn long drives into short flights. That idea first appeared in the 1940s and 50s when helicopter passenger services launched in the US and Britain. Those early attempts faded because they could land in only a handful of places. Rooftops and scattered piers created new congestion points. Without enough landing pads, the entire system stalled.

AutoFlight’s new floating vertiport flips the model. Instead of forcing cities to build fixed sites that take years to complete, the vertiport travels to the aircraft.

PENNSYLVANIA BILL SEEKS TO LEGALIZE FLYING CARS

The mobile platform supports fast charging and takeoffs for several eVTOL aircraft in real-world conditions. (AutoFlight)

Inside the zero-carbon water vertiport

The vertiport sits on a self-propelled barge with a deck lined with solar panels. It uses clean energy to charge eVTOLs without relying on grid power. A small cabin serves as a departure lounge and technical room. Operators can reposition the platform wherever demand rises, which gives cities far more flexibility.

It works with several AutoFlight aircraft. That includes the six-seat Prosperity passenger craft and the White Shark and CarryAll vehicles used for cargo and industrial tasks. All can land, recharge, and take off from the same floating hub.

Because the platform runs on solar power and needs no major construction, it can be deployed much faster than any land-based site.

First public demo on the water

AutoFlight showed the full system on November 22 at Dianshan Lake near Shanghai. A 2-ton-class eVTOL took off from the floating vertiport during a public test. The company also flew three aircraft in formation and completed live airdrop missions with supplies and life rafts. The event highlighted how the system supports emergency work and low-altitude logistics.

THE WORLD’S FIRST FLYING CAR IS READY FOR TAKEOFF

The system highlights how floating hubs may expand air mobility across commuting, emergency work and tourism. (AutoFlight)

Five sectors this system could reshape

This new platform supports a wide range of real-world uses that reach far beyond simple city travel.

Marine energy maintenance

Offshore wind sites and oil rigs often wait hours for parts or personnel. AutoFlight says the system could improve transport efficiency more than tenfold.

Emergency response

Teams can pair wide-area searches with fast aerial response. This cuts reaction time by over half and boosts survival odds.

High-frequency commuting

Cities along rivers and bays could build quick air routes without touching roads.

Marine-aerial tourism

Tour operators could add a “flight plus water” experience to premium trips.

Mobile vertiport clusters

Multiple floating hubs can link into a network during peak travel or disaster relief missions.

How AutoFlight pushes clean air mobility

Sustainable aviation keeps gaining importance. AutoFlight partnered with CATL to integrate high-safety batteries into both its aircraft and vertiports. The system uses clean energy and low-impact infrastructure. It taps underused water surfaces and avoids major construction. Cities can deploy these pads quickly, which helps air mobility grow sooner.

What this means for you

Air taxis may feel far off, yet this solution tackles a real problem. Landing and charging sites remain the missing link. Floating vertiports open the door to fast routes between airports and city centers. They also set the stage for quick regional hops that cut travel times and reduce stress. Tourism operators may even use them to launch new water-to-air experiences.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

Air taxis cannot expand without more places to land. AutoFlight’s solar water platform offers a practical option that uses clean energy and fast deployment. If cities embrace this model, air mobility could shift from concept to daily use faster than expected.

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Apple’s chip chief might be the next exec to leave

Published

16 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Press Room

Apple’s chip chief might be the next exec to leave

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is reporting that Johny Srouji, senior vice president of hardware technologies, told Tim Cook he is “seriously considering” leaving Apple for another company in the near future. It was reported in October that Srouji was “evaluating his future at the tech giant.” While nothing is confirmed, it seems the executive is leaning towards not having a future at Cupertino.

If Srouji leaves, he would be just the latest in a string of high-profile shakeups in the company’s C-suite. COO Jeff Williams announced his retirement in July, which led to some shifting of roles. But things have only accelerated in December, with AI chief John Giannandrea stepping down, policy lead Lisa Jackson and general counsel Kate Adams announcing plans to retire, and UI design lead Alan Dye departing for Meta, all in the last few days.

Apple has struggled somewhat to find its footing as the industry further embraces AI. Now Tim Cook is tasked with trying to stem the bleeding, while being subject to rumors of his own departure. Gurman, who is usually reliable, has said those rumors are premature, but it still adds to the uncertainty surrounding what is typically one of the more stable companies in Silicon Valley.