Netflix and the Credit Implications of an M&A Surge

Investment Grade Credit Research Team

How could the new wave of high-profile dealmaking affect the investment grade landscape?

Recent offers by Netflix and Paramount for Warner Bros Discovery, along with a steady acceleration of large, complex transactions across sectors and regions, have put mergers and acquisitions in focus again for credit markets.
As macro volatility has eased, growth has been resilient and financing conditions have become favorable, the environment has become more conducive to M&A. Indeed, November clocked in as the second-largest M&A issuance month of the year, at nearly $25 billion.¹ The current pipeline of pending, completed or proposed deals and investments in North America alone totals over $2 trillion.²
For bondholders, we believe outcomes are likely to be highly deal-specific. Assessing regulatory issues, funding sources and post-deal capital structures (as opposed to just headline leverage) are critical to understanding the impact these transactions have on underlying credit risk.
We favor a focus on sector- and issuer-level analysis to mitigate risks associated with these deals while capturing the select opportunities they may provide.

M&A Makes a Comeback

North American M&A Activity ($ Trillions)

Source: Bloomberg. Data as of December 9, 2025. Reflects pending, completed and proposed M&A transactions potential deal value in North America.

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