Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, Ulta earnings, Meta’s rebound and more in Morning Squawk

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Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Breaking news this morning: Netflix said it reached a deal to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and streaming assets, ending the sale process that has been the talk of tinsel town.

Here are the details:

• Under the deal, Netflix will acquire WBD’s film studio and HBO Max streaming service. Discovery will continue with its spin out of its TV network business that houses brands such as TNT and CNN.
• Netflix will pay $27.75 per WBD share in the cash-and-stock deal, equating to a total enterprise value of more than $82 billion.
• The streaming giant’s acquisition is slated to close after the separation with Discovery, which is expected to happen in the third quarter of 2026.
• Paramount Skydance and NBCUniversal parent Comcast also bid for all or some of WBD’s assets in the sale process, which officially began in October.
• CNBC reported yesterday that Paramount attorneys sent a letter to WBD CEO David Zaslav questioning the “fairness and adequacy” of the sale procedures.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.

Meta Platforms rebounded more than 3% yesterday, pulling the Facebook parent into positive territory for the week. The stock’s jump helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite eke out gains in Thursday’s session. Follow live markets updates here.

Meta’s rally came after Bloomberg reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to make cuts to the company’s metaverse unit. The report said executives have considered cutting as much as 30% of the division’s budget, and that the cuts could include job losses that would likely impact Meta’s virtual reality unit. Stephanie Link, Hightower Advisors’ chief investment strategist, told CNBC that the move would be par for the course for Zuckerberg.

Ulta Beauty doesn’t appear to be feeling the same slowdown that other consumer brands are reporting. The retailer beat Wall Street’s expectations on both lines for the third quarter, sending shares up more than 6% in extended trading.

Ulta raised its full-year profit and sales guidance for the second quarter in a row, saying it expects higher comparable store sales growth than previously penciled in. As CNBC’s Melissa Repko points out, Ulta is benefitting from consumers’ continued interest in beauty products — even as they pull back on other spending.

The Government Accountability Office is investigating Federal Housing Finance Authority Director Bill Pulte, the congressional watchdog said yesterday.

Senate Democrats last month called for the GAO to probe Pulte, asking the agency to determine whether Pulte and FHFA employees “misused federal authority and resources” to accuse President Donald Trump’s enemies of mortgage fraud. Pulte has criminally referred several Democrats to the Department of Justice, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell.

A GAO spokesperson said the organization isn’t ready to offer a timeline for the process. An FHFA spokesman declined CNBC’s request for comment.

Tesla made up ground in Consumer Reports’ closely watched ranking of auto brands release yesterday. The electric vehicle maker landed at No. 10 for 2026, up from the 18th spot last year.

Tesla’s rise was driven by an increase in reliability, Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ senior director of auto testing, told CNBC’s Michael Wayland. Notably, Tesla’s Cybertruck was the brand’s only model with a below-average score.

Subaru took the top spot for 2026, followed by BMW and Porsche. See the full list here.

Here are some stories we recommend making time for this weekend.

— CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, Lillian Rizzo, Alex Sherman, David Faber, Sara Salinas, Sarah Whitten, Melissa Repko, Chris Eudaily, Dan Mangan and Michael Wayland contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.