Netflix Acquires InterPositive and Appoints Affleck as Senior Advisor

"Now Streaming" is The Fly's weekly recap of the stories surrounding the biggest content streamers.PLAYING THIS WEEKEND:Among this weekend's most notable new streaming content is AmazonPrime Video'sa new Sherlock Holmes origin story starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin as the famed detective. Meanwhile, Peacocksubscribers can catch the, Seth MacFarlane's sitcom about a talking teddy bear, while Netflixusers can streamstarting Rachel Weisz as an obsessed English professor. Additionally, AMC+subscribers can tune in tostarring Sean Bean as a drug lord seeking to retire from his empire.NETFLIX ACQUIRES INTERPOSITIVE, APPOINTS AFFLECK AS SENIOR ADVISOR:On Thursday, Netflix announced, the filmmaking technology company founded by Ben Affleck that develops AI-powered tools built by and for filmmakers. "InterPositive's mission - to use emerging technology in ways that protect and expand creative choice - is deeply aligned with Netflix's long-standing belief that innovation should serve storytellers and the creative process," Netflix said in a statement, adding that "By bringing InterPositive's entire team into Netflix through this acquisition, and with Affleck joining as Senior Advisor, we're investing in creator-led innovation that keeps filmmakers at the center of the process."Additionally on Sunday, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Bloomberg the company's decision to drop out of the bidding from Warner Bros. Discoveryhad been made earlier than announced and was based on various bidding scenarios the company worked out in advance, Lucas Shaw reported. "We knew right away, when we got the notice on Thursday that they had a superior offer and the details of that deal," Sarandos said, speaking of rival bidder Paramount Skydance. "We knew exactly what we were going to do."Barclays reinstated coverage of Netflix with an Equal Weight rating and $115 price target. The stock's valuation in the near term should be supported by potential estimates upside as the company walks away from Warner Bros. assets, the analyst said. However, Barclays believes Netflix's valuation is likely to "embed concerns" around the reasons for bidding on the assets. It sees risk to estimates beyond 2026.JPMorgan upgraded Netflix to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $120, down from $124, after reinstating coverage following a period of restriction. The firm believes Netflix is a "healthy organic growth story," driven by strong content, global subscriber growth, continued pricing power, and an "under-monetized" advertising tier. JPMorgan expects elevated share repurchases in 2026 driven by the $2.8B Warner Bros. termination fee and "a currently opportunistic" share price. The company's "well-insulated subscription-based model" supports a premium valuation, contended the firm.BofA lowered the firm's price target on Netflix to $125 from $149 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. Following the decision to walk away from the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding process, Netflix's strategy reverts back to "business as usual," said the analyst, who updated the firm's calendar year 2026 forecasts and now projects revenue of $51.3B, up 13% year-over-year, which is in line with company guidance of 12-14% growth. The firm lowered its multiple to reflect recent multiple compression in the comp group, but believes that Netflix will continue to outperform supported by its "world-class brand," leading global subscriber scale, position as an innovator and increased visibility in growth drivers.Meanwhile on Wednesday, Netflix announced it is adding new ways for brands to buy and measure ads on Netflix. The company said, "Advertisers will now be able to tap into new targeting capabilities, better manage how often ads appear across streamers, and reach specific audiences at scale on our ad-supported plan. Starting in Q2 in the US - and rolling out to our other ad-supported countries later this year - clients will have new ways to connect with the right audiences on Netflix through expanded targeting capabilities via Amazon DSP and Yahoo DSP. Advertisers will now be able to leverage Amazon Audiences to inform their programmatic buys on Netflix. Built from trillions of Amazon's proprietary shopping, streaming, and browsing signals, the segments are built on real audience behavior. They help advertisers reach relevant Netflix members based on their lifestyles, interests, and products they are actively shopping for. By applying Amazon's exclusive signals to Netflix's highly engaged viewers, advertisers can reach the right audiences and drive even stronger performance. When buying through Yahoo DSP, advertisers can now also activate deterministic Yahoo DSP audiences on Netflix deals... We're excited to now offer our own Conversion API tools. Netflix's API is designed to help advertisers prove outcomes and will leverage real-time insights to optimize campaigns."Also on Wednesday, The Hollywood Reporter reported President Donald Trump continues to bet on the financial stability of Netflix. As Paramount sought to pry Warner Bros. away from the streaming giant, Trump was adding more Netflix bonds to his personal portfolio, financial disclosures released by the White House on Wednesday show. The disclosures show that President Trump bought between $600,000 and $1.25M worth of Netflix debt in January, adding to the $500,000 to $1M in Netflix bonds that he purchased in December, shortly after Netflix's megadeal for Warner was announced, the author noted.PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE TO COMBINE PARAMOUNT+, HBO MAX:Paramount Skydance, in its M&A announcement conference call, said itof net debt. The company said it has already funded the $2.8B termination fee as of last Friday, payable to Netflix under Warner Bros. Discovery's prior merger agreement. Paramount said the deal "gives us the operational efficiencies" to keep its businesses healthier for significantly longer than they would be on a standalone basis, and said it has "no divestitures" planned at this time. Cost savings will not include a reduction in production capacity, the company added. Most synergies will come from non-labor sources. Paramount will be a mid-20% margin company by 2030, and the company is targeting a mid-single digit CAGR for revenue. Paramount CEO David Ellison also said the company intends to combine Paramount+ and Warner Bros.' HBO Max into one single streaming service offering. "We think the combined offering, and given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side, really will put us in a position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC," Ellison said, noting that there are over 200M DTC subscribers today across the two platforms.Additionally, the Financial Times reported that Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has signaled the watchdog does not plan to block Paramount's $110B deal to buy Warner Bros. Carr told the Financial Times in an interview that there had been "concerns raised in Washington about the concentration of power" arising from Warner Bros' previous deal with Netflix but added the "obviously the level of market share and issue with a Paramount purchase is drastically different."Guggenheim raised the firm's price target on Paramount Skydance to $14 from $11 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares following Paramount's conference call based on the pro forma outlook for the combined company.Meanwhile, MoffettNathanson downgraded Warner Bros. Discoverywith Paramount Skydance emerging as the victor in the takeover battle.ROKU LAUNCHES APPLE TV FOR PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTIONS:Rokuannounced the launch of Apple TVonRoku said, "Using their Roku account, customers can now subscribe to Apple TV through Premium Subscriptions on The Roku Channel to access Apple TV's premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, live sports, and kids and family entertainment in one seamless experience."STOCK PLAYS:Other publicly traded companies in the space include Disney, FuboTVand Fox.