Technology

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

Published

8 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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The Warner Bros. studios water tower stands next to a U.S. flag in Burbank, California, U.S. Nov. 18, 2025.

Mike Blake | Reuters

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

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

1. And the winner is…

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.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., wears a pair of Meta Ray-Ban Display AI glasses during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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.

3. Full beat

Shoppers line up outside of Ulta Beauty before the 6am opening on Black Friday.

Aimee Dilger | LightRocket | Getty Images

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.

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4. Pulte’s problem

William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) nominee for US President Donald Trump, during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.

Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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.

5. Race to the top

Tesla Cybertrucks in front of the company’s store in Colma, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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.

The Daily Dividend

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.

Technology

Amazon had a very big week that could shape where its stagnant stock goes next

Published

59 mins ago

December 5, 2025

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Amazon had a very big week that could shape where its stagnant stock goes next

Technology

Meta acquiring AI wearable company Limitless

Published

2 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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Meta acquiring AI wearable company Limitless

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wears the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, as he delivers a speech presenting the new line of smart glasses, during the Meta Connect event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S., Sept. 17, 2025.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

Meta is acquiring artificial intelligence wearable startup Limitless, the companies said Friday.

“We’re excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Limitless makes a small, AI-powered pendant that can record conversations and generate summaries.

Limitless CEO Dan Siroker revealed the deal on Friday via a corporate blog post but did not disclose the financial terms.

“Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables,” Siroker said in the post and an accompanying video. “We share this vision and we’ll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life.”

Salesforce shares pop 5%, continuing post-earnings rally and leaving stock poised for best week since 2023

Published

3 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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Salesforce shares pop 5%, continuing post-earnings rally and leaving stock poised for best week since 2023

Sheldon Cooper | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Salesforce shares popped 5% on Friday after the company posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Wednesday despite falling short of Wall Street’s revenue estimates.

The stock, which is up 13% over the past five days, is aiming for its best week since 2023.

The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.25, topping Wall Street’s estimates of $2.86 per share. Revenue increased 8.6% year over year to $10.26 billion but just missed analyst projections of $10.27 billion.

Although the artificial intelligence boom has pushed several tech companies into record surges, cloud software firms have seen a rocky year as investors wonder whether AI will render the industry obsolete.

Salesforce is hoping to persuade Wall Street that AI will be able to bolster its products rather than replace them.

Investors “somehow think software companies are under arrest from AI, when the opposite is true,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday.

During the third quarter, the company acquired startups Regrello and Waii, which uses AI to generate code with natural language instructions.

Despite Salesforce’s shares being down 21% year to date, compared with the Nasdaq’s 22% gain, analysts are more optimistic for 2026.

“CRM [Salesforce] continues to be levered to digital transformation, and we expect the company to grow at a solid rate going forward,” Mizuho analysts wrote. “At the same time, we believe CRM will remain fiscally disciplined and that it can continue to drive higher operating and FCF margins.”

Analysts highlighted Salesforce’s AI platform Agentforce, which builds agents that automate business tasks and streamline workflow.

Despite initial investor skepticism over the platform, Cantor analysts were encouraged by its strong adoption in the customer service space.

“We think CRM is starting to formalize and mature the strategy, which should make it easier for customers to understand, and therefore adopt, Agentforce,” the Cantor analysts wrote.

Annual recurring revenue of Agentforce jumped 330% year over year to $540 million.

“Why everyone is so excited about Agentforce is because this is what AI was meant to be,” Benioff said. “It brings together humans and data and AI and apps, and delivers an incredible experience for companies.”

WATCH: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff goes one-on-one with Jim Cramer