How would a Netflix-owned Warner Bros. operate?
The Business
KCRW
4.5 • 697 Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Warner Bros. stock is up after CEO David Zaslav confirmed the company is on the market and open to offers. Following Netflix’s moderate Q3, dragged by an unexpected Brazilian tax hit, speculation is growing over the streamer’s possible interest in Warners. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has dismissed talk of buying legacy media networks, though the studio and streaming divisions may still be in play. Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw break down why Netflix might consider a partial acquisition, and what it could mean for Hollywood.
Plus, Kim Masters talks to Kelly Reichardt about her new film, The Mastermind. The veteran independent filmmaker recalls launching her career by partially financing her first film on credit cards and selling it to a reluctant distributor for a dollar. She shares how Todd Haynes urged her to teach at Bard College, and the years she spent juggling full-time teaching with summer shoots before shifting to part-time. Reichardt also explains why she still insists on theatrical releases especially since she, like other filmmakers, doesn’t care for the way her films look on TV.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is The Business. |
| 0:05.1 | Veteran independent filmmaker Kelly Reichart has spent years creating intimate stories, |
| 0:09.8 | often while working around a teaching job. |
| 0:12.4 | Her latest film, The Mastermind, continues her streak of tuning out Hollywood's noise |
| 0:16.6 | and sticking to her own voice. |
| 0:18.4 | I lost enough friends during AIDS to realize that you never know when your last year is. |
| 0:26.2 | If I spent the last year in my life making a Marvel movie, I'd feel like such an idiot. |
| 0:31.3 | You know, I'd be like, that's how you spent your last year? |
| 0:34.9 | Rykart recalls launching her career by financing her first film on credit |
| 0:38.7 | cards and selling it to a reluctant distributor for just a dollar. She also recalls how Todd Haynes |
| 0:44.7 | urged her to teach at Bard College, the years she spent juggling full-time teaching with summer |
| 0:49.6 | shoots, and why she still insists on theatrical releases, especially since she, like other filmmakers, |
| 0:56.0 | doesn't care for the way her films look on TV. |
| 0:58.8 | But first, two buddies banter while I'm away. |
| 1:01.3 | Stick around. |
| 1:01.9 | It's the business from KCRW. |
| 1:05.1 | I'm Matt Bellany, filling in for Kim Masters, and I'm here with Lucas Shaw from Bloomberg. |
| 1:08.8 | Welcome, Lucas. |
| 1:09.9 | Great to be here, Matt. |
| 1:11.1 | Okay, so Netflix, when they release earnings, it's typically a big champagne cork. Everybody celebrates, |
| 1:19.1 | revenue up, users up. This was not the normal Netflix earnings call. They revealed a bizarre Brazilian tax charge of about $600 million that the |
| 1:33.6 | investors looked at and said, oh, not great. They did not hit their operating income number. |
... |
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