A busy day across tech, media, and markets: Netflix has returned to the bidding table with a bold, mostly cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, reigniting one of Hollywood’s fiercest takeover battles.
OpenAI has gone into full “code red” mode as it races to outmaneuver Google’s Gemini.
In Europe, inflation edges higher heading into the ECB’s December call. And in crypto, Bitcoin rockets past $91K as traders bet big on a looming Fed rate cut.
Netflix makes bold WBD bid
Netflix has jumped back into the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, this time with a mostly cash offer for the company’s studio and streaming businesses, including HBO Max.
It’s all part of a high-stakes second round in what’s turning into one of Hollywood’s most intense auctions in years.
WBD already brushed off Paramount’s first offer: $24 a share, valuing the company at about $60 billion, and then opened the doors to other suitors over Thanksgiving weekend.
So now you’ve got Netflix, Comcast, and Paramount–Skydance all circling.
Netflix even ditched its earlier stock-heavy bid and came back with cash, focusing squarely on WBD’s entertainment assets, while WBD itself is preparing to spin off its cable networks as “Discovery Global” by mid-2026.
The whole thing could wrap up soon, and if it does, it could seriously shake up the Hollywood landscape.
OpenAI enters ‘code red’
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has officially hit the “code red” button, basically an all-hands emergency to boost ChatGPT’s speed, reliability, and personalization as quickly as possible.
The timing’s no surprise: Google’s new Gemini 3 is topping benchmarks and pulling in huge user engagement, and OpenAI clearly doesn’t want to lose ground.
This upgrade push actually ramps up an earlier “code orange” from October. That one paused things like ads, AI shopping tools, health agents, and the Pulse personal assistant.
Now, with “code red,” almost everything is on hold so the team can focus on tightening up the core ChatGPT experience. Execs are reportedly getting daily briefings to keep the pressure on.
The good news: a new reasoning model, one that supposedly outperforms Gemini, is dropping next week.
Euro inflation edges higher
Euro zone inflation nudged up a bit in November, hitting 2.2% compared with 2.1% in October, just a touch higher than economists expected. It’s still hovering right above the ECB’s 2% target, according to Eurostat’s early estimate.
The main culprit? Services inflation, which climbed to 3.5%, its highest level since April.
Energy prices were still falling, but not as much as before, -0.5% versus -0.9% last month. Meanwhile, core inflation stayed put at 2.4%, and food prices were unchanged at 2.5%.
All of this basically reinforces the view that the ECB will likely keep rates on hold at its December meeting.
Services remain stubbornly pricey, and that stickiness is making the central bank cautious about easing, even though energy pressures continue to fade.
Bitcoin blasts past $91K
Bitcoin is back on the move, and in a big way. The price has blasted past $91,000, now trading around $91,089 after an 8% jump in just 24 hours.
Volume hit $78 billion, the strongest trading session we’ve seen in weeks, as Wall Street desks stepped up their crypto buying.
This rally comes after BTC bounced hard off the $83,989 lows, pushing its market cap to $1.79 trillion and cracking the key $90K resistance.
It’s still about 28% below the October peak of $126K, but the momentum is clearly shifting.
Helping fuel the risk-on mood: traders now see 80%+ odds of a Fed rate cut at the December 9-10 meeting, which usually loosens liquidity and boosts crypto demand.
Short sellers definitely felt the squeeze: more than $300 million in BTC shorts were wiped out.
Bulls are now eyeing the $93K–$94K zone as the next target. Still, the $84K support level remains crucial, especially with ETF flows and policy developments adding extra volatility to the mix.
The post Evening digest: Netflix’s bold WBD bid, OpenAI’s ‘code red,’ Bitcoin’s surge past $91K appeared first on Invezz
