From a press release on Netflix’s “News” website:

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Dec. 5, 2025 – Today, Netflix, Inc. (the Company) and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO.

The cash and stock transaction is valued at $27.75 per WBD share (subject to a collar as detailed below), with a total enterprise value of approximately $82.7 billion (equity value of $72.0 billion). The transaction is expected to close after the previously announced separation of WBD’s Global Networks division, Discovery Global, into a new publicly-traded company, which is now expected to be completed in Q3 2026.

According to the aforementioned press release, Netflix will maintain Warner Bros.’ current operations and this new “combination will offer more choice and greater value for consumers, create more opportunities for the creative community and generate shareholder value”.

Given the size and influence of both companies, and the fact that Netflix stated that Warner Bros. will be maintaining its current operations, it will be interesting to see how this affects both organizations, how they’re offered to and accessed by users, and the content that they both produce.

In a press release on Apple’s Newsroom website, the company announced some additional changes to the organization’s executive team:

Apple today announced that Jennifer Newstead will become Apple’s general counsel on March 1, 2026, following a transition of duties from Kate Adams, who has served as Apple’s general counsel since 2017. She will join Apple as senior vice president in January, reporting to CEO Tim Cook and serving on Apple’s executive team. In addition, Lisa Jackson, vice president for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, will retire in late January 2026. The Government Affairs organization will transition to Adams, who will oversee the team until her retirement late next year, after which it will be led by Newstead. Newstead’s title will become senior vice president, General Counsel and Government Affairs, reflecting the combining of the two organizations. The Environment and Social Initiatives teams will report to Apple chief operating officer Sabih Khan.

These leadership changes follow the retirement announcement of John Giannandrea, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, as well as the news that Alan Dye, Apple’s Vice President of Human Interface Design, is leaving the organization to join Meta as their Chief Design Officer.

Dan Moren, writing at SixColors.com, mentioned the recent reports / rumors related to Apple CEO Tim Cook and when he might consider retiring:

Over all this continues to hover uncertainty about Tim Cook’s future, with some recent reports suggesting that he might announce his retirement sometime next year, though it’s more than possible that he might simply transition into the company’s chairman role. If nothing else, a long era of stability amongst Apple’s leadership has seen a lot of changes recently, and it may not be over yet.

While all of the recent leadership changes may just be coincidence, Dan Moren’s point about Apple having a decent period of stability within the organization’s leadership team only to have several changes over the past week or so makes one wonder what might happen next.

Apple’s Vice President of Human Interface Design, Alan Dye, is reported to be leaving the company to join Meta as their Chief Design Officer.

Juli Clover, writing at MacRumors.com:

Dye is joining Meta as chief design officer on December 31, and he will help Meta in its efforts to further break into consumer hardware. Dye will head up Meta’s new design studio, overseeing hardware design and software design with a focus on improving Meta devices like headsets and glasses with AI features.

According to the aforementioned MacRumors article (which is based on a Bloomberg article by Marc Gurman), Dye will be replaced by Stephen Lemay, who has been a member of Apple’s design team for over two decades.

The news of Dye’s departure comes just days after Apple announced the upcoming retirement of John Giannandrea, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy. That said, it seems as though Dye’s departure is on different terms, with Jon Gruber of DaringFireball.net writing:

It sounds like Dye chose to jump ship, and wasn’t squeezed out (as it seems with former AI chief John Giannandrea earlier this week). Gurman/Bloomberg are spinning this like a coup for Meta (headline: “Apple Design Executive Alan Dye Poached by Meta in Major Coup”), but I think this is the best personnel news at Apple in decades. Dye’s decade-long stint running Apple’s software design team has been, on the whole, terrible — and rather than getting better, the problems have been getting worse.

Gruber further elaborates on the criticisms of Dye in a follow-up piece on DaringFireball.net entitled “Bad Dye Job”, which is worth a read if you’re intersted in the state of Apple’s design team.

It will definitely be interesting to see how this change will affect the future of design at Apple!

Twitch’s 2025 recaps recently became available! As a frequent Twitch viewer (and occasional streamer), it’s always interesting to see the stats regarding my Twitch usage. Here’s my 2025 Viewer Recap!

In a press release on their “Newsroom” webpage, Apple announced that John Giannandrea, Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, is set to retire in the Spring of 2026:

Apple today announced John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president for Machine Learning and AI Strategy, is stepping down from his position and will serve as an advisor to the company before retiring in the spring of 2026. Apple also announced that renowned AI researcher Amar Subramanya has joined Apple as vice president of AI, reporting to Craig Federighi. Subramanya will be leading critical areas, including Apple Foundation Models, ML research, and AI Safety and Evaluation. The balance of Giannandrea’s organization will shift to Sabih Khan and Eddy Cue to align closer with similar organizations.

Taking Giannandrea’s place will be Amar Subramanya, who is currently CVP of AI at Microsoft and, prior to that, served in various roles at Google for 16 years, including VP of Engineering (where he worked on Google’s Gemini product).

Given that Siri and Apple’s AI efforts are seen as being behind other AI products like Gemini or ChatGPT, this move may not be surprising to some. However, it will be interesting to see how this change affects the state of Siri and AI at Apple going forward.