It's Hollywood's biggest plot twist of the year.
Netflix bought Warner Brothers.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
India and Russia get closer on trade, and also in India, the country's largest airline causes chaos for passengers for a fourth day running.
We start with a marriage of two of Hollywood's biggest names.
Netflix has confirmed it is buying Warner Brothers Discovery.
This is a big day.
We're really beyond excited to welcome Warner Brothers to Netflix.
It sure is.
That is the co-CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, who made the agreement to buy Warner Brothers Discovery's profitable streaming and studio business in a deal worth more than 80 billion.
I know some of you are surprised that we're making this acquisition.
And I certainly understand why.
Over the years, we have been known to be builders, not buyers.
We already have incredible shows and movies and a great business model, and it's working for talent, it's working for consumers and it's working for shareholders.
But this is a rare opportunity and it's going to help us achieve our mission to entertain the world and to bring people together through great stories.
Ross Banish, his senior analyst covering TV and streaming for eMarketer, and he told me his reaction to the deal.
Yeah, I was a little surprised just because Netflix didn't want the whole company.
Warner still will have to go find another buyer for the TV networks.
Given the price that Netflix is paying for this, it seems like the TV network side is going to be the side that inherits all that debt.
So you have a declining asset with a ton of debt.
I don't know who's going to take that off your hands.
Paramount are not happy about this deal.
No, you know, Paramount was very aggressive in trying to purchase Warner Brothers Discovery, just like Skydance was very aggressive in getting Paramount not that long ago.
And really rich media moguls aren't used to not getting their own way.
So this would be a very frustrating setback for them.
It's not completely done.
A lot could still happen, even if the companies have agreed to terms.
It still has to go through regulatory approval.
And the U.S. has a very whimsical president on those matters.
So who knows?
And I know that a lot of directors, actors, they're not happy about the deal either.
No, it faces an existential threat to theater.
Now, Netflix says they're going to maintain that.
But for how long will they maintain that?
They're always going to do what's advantaged for them, not necessarily what was advantaged for how Warner Brothers Discovery has historically operated.
So directors who have worked with Warner for a long time and have relied on box office have every right to be nervous on how this shakes out.
That was Ross Benesch from eMarketer.
With me now, Bill Dinning, Chief Investment Officer at W1M.
Bill, what's the financial market reaction on this one?
Well, I think this is obviously a big transaction, one of the biggest deals of the year, if it goes through.
I think this is probably a good deal for Netflix if they can make it happen.
But there are, as your previous commentator said, there are going to be some regulatory hurdles.
But I think that on the face of it, this is an attractive asset.
That's why you had a number of different companies bidding for it.
What do you think shareholders are thinking?
Do they want this to go through?
I would have thought so, because Warner Brothers has got its own studio, so that's good for creating more content.
They've got an incredible library.
It's one of the great Hollywood studios.
So I think that, from a content point of view and from the ability to create more content going forward, I would have thought this is a good transaction if they can get it past the regulatory bodies.
Exactly.
Yeah, lots of great ones.
Batman, Harry Potter, it's got it all.
Been didding.
Chief Investment Officer at W1M, thank you so much for joining us.
Let's go back a little earlier in the day to a press conference in Delhi, where Russian President Putin said he's ready to provide uninterrupted fuel supplies for India, even as the country faces heavy pressure to stop buying oil from Moscow.
Both leaders outlined an economic cooperation.
Here's President Putin.
The partnership in the energy sector is developing successfully.
Russia is a reliable supplier of energy resources and everything necessary for India's energy development.
We are ready to continue uninterrupted shipments of fuel for the fast-growing Indian economy.
Now Washington accuses Delhi of financing Russia's war on Ukraine by buying Russian oil and has imposed additional tariffs on Indian goods.
But Indian Prime Minister Modi says that their energy cooperation is important.
Energy security has been a strong and important pillar of the India-Russia partnership.
Our decades-long cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy has been instrumental in making our shared priorities on clean energy meaningful.
We will continue this cooperation.
Our correspondent in Delhi, Aruna Day Mukherjee, told me how important it is for India to continue buying Russian oil.
India has always maintained very clearly on multiple international forums that it needs steady oil supply at a discounted rate because it is a country which has a rising economy, it is a country of 14 billion people and it needs to secure its energy needs.
That has been the justification that India's foreign minister has given on multiple forums.
But I think that the message that came out of this meeting essentially was from India, that its relations with Moscow will not be dictated by any pressure from the US, even if that means 50 tariffs.
And B.
India is also looking at options, without closing the doors on others, given the fact that it has not managed to still stitch together that trade deal with the US.
So is your sense around today, maybe India is looking for a new best friend?
Well, in terms of Russia-India relations, India says that it's a time-tested relationship, which is why Prime Minister Modi also said that that friendship has stood firm like a pole star through many crises.
So I think that relationship has always been there.
But I think, given the new geopolitical scenario and an unpredictable relationship with President Trump, where you don't have a trade deal, where you have 50 tariffs, you've got China in the region, which also has an unreliable relationship with India.
I think in that context, the relationship with Russia obviously seems to be the more stable one at this moment.
That was Arunadai Mukherjee and we're going to stay in India for now.
When you can give me a printer for booking, for rescheduling, why not for cancellation?
That was the sound of an angry passenger at Chennai airport, one of tens of thousands of passengers of Indigo who've had their flights cancelled as the country's largest airline struggles to cope with the new government rules on working hours for pilots.
The rules are now being suspended, but it will take some time for things to get back to normal.
In Mumbai, Archana Shukla explains.
Today was one of the worst, where about more than 400 flights have been cancelled by Indigo, particularly because they're facing a shortage of pilots, largely because they have failed to adapt to the new crew rostering rules, which somewhere demand that there are lesser night flight hours for pilots and they should be given more rest hours.
And we've seen hundreds of flights being cancelled.
The result is...
Thousands of passengers were stranded at various airports across India.
Today, Indigo in fact cancelled all their domestic flights out of the capital city, New Delhi.
And you can imagine they being the largest airline, holding about 60 of the market.
And them, cancelling so many flights means the entire domestic air travel is in disarray.
We've been hearing from some of the frustrated passengers.
Nobody's helping out with anyone.
So I checked downstairs on the baggage.
They're not helping.
No information on the website, on the delay, no information on that.
Nothing.
They issue the boarding pass and then leave you to stand.
We came at 8am.
Our flight was 11.10am.
It was cancelled, but they didn't tell us.
At 1.30pm, we were told the flight was cancelled.
That really sounds like a nightmare, Archana.
Is there going to be any resolution to this?
The airline says it's trying to get its schedule back on track.
It says, you know, it will only be until February next year that it would come back to its original schedule.
They have also got a relief, some sort of an exemption from the regulator, to adhere to these new rules by February.
So remember, it's the peak travel season.
It's the winter holiday season.
It's also the wedding season here in India.
So for passengers, it's definitely going to be a tough time ahead.
Archana Shukla there.
Now new research today suggests that deep sea mining tests wiped out more than a third of life on the seabed, raising big questions about whether the industry can ever operate without causing serious harm.
Earlier today I spoke to Ro Dahwan, the CEO of the International Council on Mining and Metals, and I asked him whether deep sea mining should go ahead at all.
None of the members of ICMM do deep sea mining, and the evidence is contrary.
In some cases, we're seeing what we saw today, which is really concerning impacts on marine life and the health of ecosystems.
On the other hand, I've also seen evidence that shows a more benign impact.
And actually, when you compare it to the impact on land, there are studies that say that, on a lifecycle basis, metals gotten from the deep sea through nodule extraction, not through actually mining the seabed, can have a lower impact and footprint than on land.
So honestly, it's a little bit too soon to tell what is a better path to achieving the world's material needs.
It may end up being a case of a bit of all of the above.
No matter whether it happens on land or it happens on sea.
We've got to have at least a minimum baseline that respects people's rights and the health of the environment.
And honestly, if there's a source of metal that is there that can meet that but cannot be done responsibly, then it shouldn't be done at all.
That was Ro Dawun, the CEO of the International Council on Mining and Metals.
And that is it from World Business Express with me, Liana Byrne.
Thanks so much for listening.
