WarnerBros Discovery Mulls Sale, OpenAI’s Atlas v Google Chrome and Amazon to Automate 600k Jobs

22nd October 2025

Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring a possible sale as major players like Netflix and Skydance circle, signaling fresh media consolidation ahead. Meta struck a record $27B deal with Blue Owl Capital to fund its largest AI data center, while OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered browser taking aim at Google Chrome. In policy circles, a rare alliance of conservatives and AI pioneers is calling for a pause on superintelligent AI development. Meanwhile, Amazon is accelerating automation plans that could replace 600,000 future hires by 2033 sparking debate over AI’s role in reshaping the workforce. From Hollywood to Silicon Valley, the race to own the future of tech is getting sharper and faster.

Major News 

• Warner Bros. Discovery Weighs Sale Amid Industry Shake-Up

Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring a potential full or partial sale after receiving unsolicited offers, marking a possible turning point for one of Hollywood’s biggest media powerhouses. The news comes just months after the company announced plans to split its struggling cable networks from its more profitable studio and streaming businesses, creating two separate publicly traded entities.

While the company hasn’t named potential buyers, several big names have surfaced. Skydance Media founder David Ellison who recently acquired Paramount for roughly $8 billion is reportedly interested, along with Netflix and Comcast. Ellison, the son of Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, has been on an aggressive acquisition streak, including his recent $150 million purchase of The Free Press. Analysts say his growing media empire could position him as a major rival to legacy studios.

Warner Bros. Discovery said it remains committed to its mid-2026 spin-off plan even as it reviews offers. The company also raised prices for HBO Max this week, signaling confidence in its streaming future despite broader industry challenges. Shares rose 11% following the announcement. Meanwhile, Paramount is said to have made multiple offers for WBD’s entire portfolio, though its bids were deemed too low. If successful, such a deal would bring CNN and CBS under the same corporate roof a move that could reshape U.S. media dynamics.

Beyond the traditional media suitors, Apple and Amazon are rumored to be watching from the sidelines, drawn by the strength of HBO Max’s brand and content library. Whether WBD ultimately sells or proceeds with its split, one thing is clear: the entertainment industry is entering another wave of consolidation, with tech giants and streaming leaders jockeying for dominance in a rapidly changing landscape. Deadline 

• OpenAI’s Atlas Browser: Taking the Fight to Google’s Front Door

OpenAI has officially stepped into Google’s turf. On Tuesday, the company unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered web browser built around its signature chatbot, a move that directly challenges Google Chrome’s reign over internet browsing. With over 800 million weekly ChatGPT users, OpenAI is betting big that the future of online search and navigation will be conversational, not keyword-based. By blending browsing with ChatGPT’s ability to summarize, compare, and analyze in real time, Atlas positions itself as both a productivity tool and a data-gathering platform that could reshape how users interact with the web.

At its core, Atlas is designed to make the internet feel more intuitive. Users can open a ChatGPT sidebar on any webpage to summarize articles, compare products, or even complete complex tasks. In its new “agent mode” available to paid users ChatGPT can take over entirely, performing actions like planning a trip or making purchases online. In one demo, developers showed the AI browsing a recipe site, then automatically buying all the required ingredients through Instacart. The result? A hands-free digital assistant that doesn’t just answer questions but gets things done. Atlas is already live on macOS, with Windows, iOS, and Android versions coming soon.

The timing couldn’t be more strategic. Since ChatGPT’s 2022 debut, Google has scrambled to defend its search dominance, rolling out Gemini AI integrations across Chrome and search results. Chrome still commands a staggering 71.9% of the global browser market, according to StatCounter, but the rise of AI-native browsers like Atlas, Perplexity’s Comet, and Opera’s Neon is signaling a new wave of competition. Analysts see OpenAI’s move not just as a technological step forward, but as the foundation for something bigger: advertising.

“Integrating chat into a browser is a precursor for OpenAI starting to sell ads,” said Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson, noting that Google currently captures about 90% of global search ad spend.

For OpenAI, Atlas isn’t just another product, it's a statement of intent. By merging AI capabilities with everyday browsing, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of information, automation, and commerce. While Google still holds the upper hand in scale and reach, OpenAI is redefining the rules of engagement. The question now isn’t whether users will switch browsers, it's whether they’ll start expecting the internet itself to think, act, and respond like ChatGPT. Yahoo.Finance 

• Meta’s $27 Billion Bet on the AI Infrastructure Race

Meta is doubling down on the AI boom this time through an unprecedented $27 billion financing deal with alternative asset giant Blue Owl Capital. The agreement, which funds Meta’s largest-ever data center project in Louisiana, underscores how the world’s biggest tech players are racing to expand the backbone of artificial intelligence. Dubbed Project Hyperion, the site will become Meta’s biggest data facility globally, a cornerstone of its strategy to power everything from generative AI to large language model training. For Meta, this isn’t just an infrastructure play, it's a financial pivot toward smarter capital deployment.

Under the terms of the deal, Meta will retain about 20% equity in the Louisiana project, with Blue Owl-managed funds taking the majority stake. The asset manager contributed around $7 billion in cash, while Meta received a $3 billion one-time payout, a structure that allows the company to free up capital for other AI and data initiatives without taking on additional debt.

Meta’s CFO Susan Li called the move “a bold step forward,” noting that the partnership reduces financial risk while still giving Meta access to a data center expected to deliver more than 2 gigawatts of compute capacity enough to train some of the world’s largest AI models.

Blue Owl’s co-CEOs, Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, described Hyperion as “an ambitious project that reflects the scale and speed required to power the next generation of AI infrastructure.” They’re not exaggerating. According to Morgan Stanley, major tech firms including Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and CoreWeave are projected to spend over $400 billion on AI infrastructure this year alone. Even OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has reportedly entered multi-year deals worth up to $1 trillion to secure 26 gigawatts of compute power, an investment that could light up 20 million U.S. homes.

Analysts see Meta’s approach as both strategic and defensive. “It helps them mitigate risk at the expense of ownership,” said Alvin Nguyen, senior analyst at Forrester. “Meta won’t need to provide nearly as much capital and can look to finance other facilities or AI infrastructure. It also minimizes the debt they are taking on for equipment and property in the event there’s a bursting of the AI bubble.” In other words, Meta is building big but doing it smarter. Yahoo.Finance 

• U.S. Conservatives, Tech Leaders Unite in Call to Halt Superintelligent AI

In a rare alliance bridging the worlds of right-wing media and Silicon Valley innovation, a group of high-profile figures including Steve Bannon, Glenn Beck, and AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio have signed a joint statement urging a global pause on developing superintelligent AI. The call, organized by the Future of Life Institute (FLI), argues that progress toward human-level or beyond-human-level artificial intelligence should stop until the public explicitly demands it and scientists can ensure it’s safe.

The FLI, founded in 2014 and backed early on by Elon Musk and tech investor Jaan Tallinn, has long warned about existential risks posed by advanced AI. Its latest statement underscores growing cross-ideological concern about how far and fast the technology is advancing. The group’s position is clear: unchecked development could outpace human control, with consequences too vast to predict or contain.

Support for the proposal from conservative media voices like Bannon and Beck suggests that skepticism toward AI is expanding beyond the scientific community into political and populist circles. Analysts note that this reflects a new strain of tech anxiety among right-leaning groups, coinciding with a Republican administration that counts several Silicon Valley veterans among its influential voices. While critics in both industry and government argue that halting AI progress would stifle innovation and harm U.S. competitiveness, FLI’s growing roster of signatories hints at a wider cultural shift toward caution.

The statement also drew endorsements from figures outside politics and AI research, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, former Irish President Mary Robinson, and Virgin Group’s Richard Branson. Their involvement lends moral and global weight to what’s increasingly seen as a defining question of the decade: not just whether we can build superintelligent AI but whether we should. Reuters 

• Amazon’s Automation Drive Could Replace 600,000 Future Jobs

Amazon is quietly mapping out a major shift toward automation that could reshape its workforce and the logistics industry at large. According to internal documents obtained by The New York Times, the e-commerce giant expects to double its delivery output by 2033 while avoiding the need to hire roughly 600,000 additional workers.

The report suggests that Amazon aims to skip onboarding 160,000 employees in the U.S. alone between 2025 and 2027, saving about 30 cents per item shipped an estimated $12.6 billion in total. The company’s robotics division ultimately plans to automate up to 75% of its warehouse operations, replacing human labor with increasingly capable machines.

Economists are already sounding the alarm. Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu told The Times that Amazon’s aggressive push into robotics could transform it from one of America’s largest employers into “a net job destroyer.” The move, he added, could spark an industry-wide rush toward automation as competitors race to keep pace.

Still, Amazon insists the documents don’t reflect its broader hiring plans. A company spokesperson said savings from automation are often reinvested into new roles and business lines. Internally, executives have also been encouraged to rebrand robots as “cobots”collaborative partners rather than replacements and to highlight community programs to soften public perception. Whether that narrative holds as automation accelerates, however, remains to be seen. Morning Brew 

Minor News 

• Amazon restores AWS services after global outage disrupts businesses. Bloomberg 

• Novo Nordisk shares slide as top investor pushes sweeping board changes. Reuters 

• Demolition Begins as White House Prepares for $250M, 90,000-Square-Foot Ballroom. Reuters 

• L’Oréal falls 7% as uncertain outlook leaves investors uneasy. CNBC 

• Gold rebounds amid investor caution and shifting interest rate expectations. Reuters

• Netflix Shares Dip After Missing Earnings and Revenue Targets. Reuters 

• LVMH weighing sale of its 50% stake in Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty. Reuters 

• Bank of England Governor Raises Concerns Over Rapid Growth in Private Credit. Financial Times