The Billionaire Stare-Down
I read somewhere that “patience is a virtue,” but in the corporate world, patience looks a lot like a weapon. I’ve been following this drama between Paramount Skydance, Netflix, and Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s reached that point in a chess match where nobody is moving a piece, but everyone is sweating.
They call it the “waiting game.” It sounds passive, doesn’t it? Like waiting for a bus. But in this case, the bus costs $108 billion and the people waiting are betting the other guy’s bus will crash first.
Silence is Expensive
It is fascinating to watch these giants freeze. Netflix has the signed paper, the “superior” deal according to the board. But Paramount isn’t leaving. They are just… standing there. Hovering. It reminds me of when you are trying to break up with someone, but the other person just refuses to accept it and keeps showing up with better gifts. “Cash,” they say. “We have cold, hard cash.”
This isn’t about movies anymore. I doubt anyone in those boardrooms is discussing the artistic merit of the next Batman film. It’s just leverage. The waiting game is designed to let doubt creep in - doubt about regulators, doubt about stock prices, doubt about the future.
Who Blinks?
I wonder what it feels like to wake up knowing your “wait” is costing millions in legal fees. For us, waiting is an annoyance. For David Ellison and the Netflix CEOs, it’s a strategy. They are betting on time being the ultimate deal-breaker.
The irony? While they wait to decide who owns the content, we’re just waiting for something good to watch.