• Erika Roberts moved to Germany to study, partly because she didn't enjoy college in the US.
• She attends medical school in Munich and plans to become a doctor.
• The 27-year-old pays the equivalent of $100 per semester for tuition.

This story is based on a conversation with Erika Roberts, a 27-year-old medical student from Philadelphia who is studying in Munich. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was 16, I took part in a high school exchange program to Munich.

I loved everything about the city, especially the freedom that it gave to kids my age. Public transportation was safe and easily accessible, and I attended any cultural events that interested me.

I never expected to be living here a decade later.

Simple things in Munich were exciting for a teen

When I was a teen, my American and European friends and I would buy fresh bread from a bakery, sit by the river, and have a picnic. Even the simplest things felt exciting.

After graduating in June 2016, I wanted to do something interesting before college. I tried selling my dad on the idea of doing volunteer work in a developing country, such as Cambodia.

Then I realized that most of those projects need people with skill sets, not 18-year-olds with big dreams.

I followed the traditional route of touring colleges in the US. There were a lot of conversations about finding international and diverse environments where you can challenge yourself to grow.

I felt I'd already experienced that in Germany and thought of going back. But my dad was against it. We agreed that studying in the US was the less risky option.

Unfortunately, I never settled into my college in Massachusetts, where I studied biochemistry with a pre-med focus. I didn't have the independence I craved.

I wanted a work/life balance

I like to see different perspectives, and I wasn't connecting with people. Even though I got good grades, I didn't feel like I was becoming the adult I wanted to be.

While I knew that entering the medical profession would require a lot of effort, I also wanted to maintain a balance between work and my personal life. Part of my goal was to become a top doctor, but I longed to learn another language, travel the world, and see new cultures.

I finally decided to move to Germany in the summer of 2017. A close friend told me she'd applied to transfer to another school, which helped make up my mind. I also couldn't stop worrying about the expense of college in the US and student loans hanging over me.

Dad gave his blessing after seeing how motivated I was. He was impressed by my research on the lower cost of education in Germany, which is attributed to the country's public funding model.

Medical school tuition costs $100 per semester

I left the US in the fall of 2017 and spent a year learning German at a language school. Then, as someone from outside the European Union, I attended a preparatory college so that the German government would allow me to study medicine.

It was incredibly hard work, but I achieved the right grades to gain admission to medical school at the Technical University of Munich. I have a student residence permit, and the tuition costs $100 per semester.

I'm now in my second-to-last year, balancing studying for the boards with doctoral thesis research. I'm also collaborating with Move OverSeas Now by sharing online tips about relocating to Germany.

Meanwhile, the best things about living in Munich include the quality food and easy access to hiking in the Alps. There are numerous cultural events, and traveling to other parts of Europe is affordable and straightforward.

I miss my family

Of course, it has its cons like any other place. I find some of the bureaucracy annoying, and you have to get used to the shorter days in winter. I miss my family, too.

I have completed one of the three US medical licensing exams and must complete a residency in the US to have full freedom to practice in America.

Still, I've made lasting friendships and feel confident about my future. It was a huge step, but I made the correct decision when I crossed the Atlantic at the age of 19.

• Netflix became HBO faster than HBO could become Netflix.
• That's why Netflix is buying HBO.
• But assume the deal goes through, does HBO stick around, or get merged into Netflix? I have some thoughts.

Last month, HBO boss Casey Bloys stood in front of an auditorium full of reporters and told them what everyone already knew: Netflix had won the streaming wars.

"To Netflix's credit, as the first mover, they have become a utility. For consumers, it is the basic cable of today," he said.

But Bloys wasn't surrendering — he was pitching: HBO was still valuable, just like it was in the old cable days, when the only way you could get HBO was to get basic cable as well. "In today's world, consumers still want to add to their entertainment portfolio," he said.

Translation: OK, we know you're getting Netflix. But you should also buy HBO, too.

Now Netflix wants to take that idea to its logical conclusion: It will sell you Netflix and HBO.

First, of course, Netflix has to actually close its blockbuster $83 billion deal for HBO and the Warner studio.

But when that's done, what happens next? Netflix executives got a bunch of questions on an investor call Friday along those lines — both for HBO and the studio — and their answers on the HBO end amounted to "We think HBO is very valuable," which doesn't really clear anything up.

But the most logical way this would play out would be something like this: Netflix continues to offer the service now called HBO Max to anyone who wants it — whether or not they subscribe to Netflix — and then offers it to Netflix customers at a discount. A real bundle. A Netflix version of "basic cable + HBO."

Again, Netflix executives didn't actually say that on the call. Instead, we got commentary like this, from co-CEO Greg Peters:

"We think the HBO brand is very powerful for consumers. We think that the offering could constitute and would constitute part of our plans and how we structure those for consumers. And then that gives us a lot of options to figure out how do you package things, in different ways to make sure that we're maximizing the value for consumers , and maximizing the value of the assets that we're then being able to present."

Shrug emoji.

I'm sure Netflix will consider some tweaks beyond simply running two different services at the same time and selling a discounted bundle.

For instance: what happens to the "Max" shows HBO Max has been making — the cheaper, high-volume series that were supposed to broaden HBO's audience? Do those migrate to Netflix, which already serves a much larger, more general-interest subscriber base?

But those are tweaks. The big picture is that Netflix could operate Netflix and HBO as two separate services for quite a while, sold to overlapping but distinct audiences. Which is basically how things already work. Netflix declined to comment.

What's the opportunity for Netflix, and for HBO?

Antenna, the analytics firm, estimates that 45% of HBO's US subscribers already have Netflix — but only 15% of Netflix subscribers also get HBO. That discrepancy is likely even wider outside the US, since Netflix is nearly global and HBO is still expanding internationally. Which means HBO could dramatically increase its reach simply by being attached to Netflix and its 300 million subscribers.

It's also worth remembering the original logic behind Warner Bros. Discovery — the 2022 mashup of what used to be called Time Warner and Discovery Inc. The whole idea was scale: Put Discovery's cheap basic-cable fare in the same container as HBO's prestige hits, and you'd have one super-service that lots of people would buy.

Didn't work. HBO viewers wanted "The White Lotus," not pimple-popping shows. And investors hated the amalgamation so much that WBD was preparing to break itself up before deciding instead to sell to Netflix.

So I'd be surprised if Netflix tries melting HBO into part of its giant, undifferentiated service. Much more likely: Turning it back into what it's always been: a premium channel you stack on top of whatever you already watch.

That used to be cable. Now it might just be Netflix.

• Netflix is set to acquire Warner Bros. in a $72 billion deal for its streaming and studios business.
• That means the streamer will own a slew of classic movies and TV shows from the WBD catalog.
• Titles that will be owned by Netflix include "Casablanca," "Friends," and the "Harry Potter" franchise.

In a deal that is sure to disrupt Hollywood, Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $72 billion.

In the deal, the streaming giant will acquire WB's over 100-year vault of beloved film and TV titles.

That means that not only would current hits like "Sinners" and "One Battle After Another" be owned by Netflix, but so would classic movies like "Casablanca" and "The Matrix," as well as beloved TV shows like "Friends" and "The Wire."

Below are 30 Warner Bros. movies and TV shows that will soon be Netflix titles.

TV shows

"Curb Your Enthusiasm"

This series focuses on a fictionalized version of Larry David, the retired co-creator of "Seinfeld," and his daily life in Los Angeles. The semi-improvised comedy series spotlights David's irritability and cringeworthy social interactions, and helped turn its star into a cultural archetype of petty annoyances.

"Euphoria"

This teen drama follows Rue, played by Zendaya, and her small circle of peers as they struggle with addiction, sexuality, and mental illness. The show's maximalist aesthetic inspired glittery makeup trends that took over corners of TikTok. The show's third season is set to air in April.

"Friends"

One of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, "Friends" follows a group of six friends — and lovers, and siblings — living in New York City during their early adulthood.

"Game of Thrones"

The fantasy drama based on George R. R. Martin's novel series is known for its plot twists and intricate world-building. Not only did it create a global fan base and help bring adult fantasy to the fore, but the show's popularity also created real-world travel trends to filming locations, including Croatia.

"Gilmore Girls"

A classic, if not the classic, television portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship, this series follows Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore's (Alexis Bledel) lives in the sleepy town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Known for its witty dialogue, seemingly infinite references to coffee, and reliable boy drama, it remains a favorite comfort show among original fans and younger viewers.

"Gossip Girl"

This 2000s drama follows a group of ultrawealthy private-school students in New York City as they move through champagne-filled parties, messy relationships, and college applications. All the while, the anonymous blogger, Gossip Girl, dishes out secrets in the background. The show helped launch stars like Blake Lively and a generation of aspirational New Yorkers.

"Pretty Little Liars"

"Pretty Little Liars" follows four high school girls reeling from the disappearance and assumed death of their friend group's former queen bee. The girls are being stalked by "A," someone who seems to know every one of their secrets, past and present. Full of familial and romantic drama, the show created a loyal online fandom who traded theories about A on social media in the 2010s.

"Rick and Morty"

In its eighth season and still going strong, this adult animated science-fiction comedy follows the brilliant alcoholic scientist Rick Sanchez and his anxious teenage grandson, Morty Smith, as they navigate multiple universes and their own familial relationships. The show is also relevant beyond the big screen, showing up often in memes.

"Sex and the City"

This HBO series follows four women in New York City figuring out careers, romance, and friendship. It centers on newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), whose voiceovers dot most episodes. The show is also considered a staple of fashion history, and Carrie herself became a style icon.

"The Sopranos"

Few shows are considered as impactful as "The Sopranos," which follows New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) through therapy sessions, the management of a sprawling criminal enterprise, and his chaotic relationships. At once depressing and hilarious, it is credited with demonstrating that television can be as artistically complex and ambitious as film.

"Succession"

This series follows the Roys as the four adult children scramble for control of the family's media empire. The comedy-drama offers an unflinching portrait of the ultrawealthy, what people will do for power, and familial dysfunction.

"Veep"

This political satire stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a self-centered and power-hungry vice president. "Veep" tracked real-world politics' slide into the increasingly absurd and was a favorite among DC insiders.

"The West Wing"

Created and written by Aaron Sorkin, "The West Wing" chronicles the drama of the White House's senior staff. It follows the president, chief of staff, communications director, and others through both national and personal crises. The show premiered in 1999 and won 26 Emmys.

"The White Lotus"

Since its first season premiered in 2021, Mike White's vacation anthology series "The White Lotus" has developed a cult following. Each season of the dark comedy-drama takes place at a different luxury resort around the world, and follows wealthy hotel guests and employees over the course of a week leading up to a death. The show often boasts big stars, like Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Imperioli, and Parker Posey.

"The Wire"

This crime drama set in Baltimore follows a wide cast of characters and explores city bureaucracy. Each season focuses on a different topic, from the drug trade to the school system.

Movies

"2001: A Space Odyssey"

Stanley Kubrick's space epic pushed the limits of visual effects, resulting in one of the most groundbreaking works ever put on the big screen. Kubrick's other classics — "A Clockwork Orange," "Barry Lyndon," "The Shining," and "Full Metal Jacket" — were also made at Warner Bros.

"Blade Runner"

Ridley Scott's trippy tale starring Harrison Ford as a detective in search of synthetic humans in a futuristic Los Angeles has inspired countless other sci-fi stories.

"Casablanca"

With an all-star cast made up of Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Peter Lorrie, Claude Rains, and Sydney Greenstreet, this drama set against the backdrop of World War II is regarded as one of the greatest love stories ever put on screen. It also features not one but two famous movie lines: "Here's looking at you, kid," and, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"Citizen Kane"

Orson Welles became a sensation in Hollywood when he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in this movie about the life and times of fictional newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane. The movie's non-linear storytelling and unique camera angles inspired countless filmmakers in the decades since; many regard it as one of the greatest movies ever made.

"The Exorcist"

Before "Jaws" or "Star Wars" became blockbusters, this was the movie audiences lined up around the block to see. William Friedkin's supernatural horror about a young girl (Linda Blair) possessed by the devil became a box office sensation and the first-ever horror movie to be nominated for a best picture Oscar.

"Gone with the Wind"

This best picture-winning epic set in the South during the Civil War made icons out of Vivien Leigh as the strong-willed Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as the dashing Rhett Butler. The two would be immortalized in movie lore thanks to the famous line delivered by Gable to Leigh, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

"Goodfellas"

Martin Scorsese's beloved gangster movie is highlighted by powerful performances from Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci, who play based-on-real-life despicable mob wiseguys who cause mayhem from the 1950s to the 1980s.

"The Goonies"

Under the watchful eye of Steven Spielberg, who came up with the story, director Richard Donner's classic follows a group of teens who set out on a treasure-hunting adventure to save the small neighborhood they live in from foreclosure.

"The Matrix"

Starring Keanu Reeves as a man who awakens from what he realizes is a simulated reality, "The Matrix" features action sequences and never-before-seen CGI effects that redefined the action movie genre overnight.

"Rebel Without a Cause"

Nicholas Ray's groundbreaking work didn't just successfully tap into teenage life, it also turned its star, James Dean, into a matinee idol.

"The Searchers"

Warner Bros. is responsible for one of the greatest Westerns ever made. In this essential John Ford movie, John Wayne plays a Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood). Along with its powerful performances, the film's lush vistas of Western terrain have stood the test of time.

"The Shawshank Redemption"

Based on a Stephen King novella, "The Shawshank Redemption" stars Tim Robbins as banker Andy Dufresne, who is sentenced to life for the murder of his wife, though he's actually innocent. In his two decades at Shawshank Penitentiary, Dufresne befriends an inmate (Morgan Freeman), launches a money laundering scheme with the warden, and plans a daring escape.

The "Harry Potter" franchise

All the titles from the beloved fantasy franchise will soon belong to Netflix. Presumably, so will HBO's upcoming Harry Potter TV series.

"The Lord of the Rings" franchise

So will Peter Jackson's trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork.

Any version of Batman ever made

Batman has been a cash cow for Warner Bros. all the way back to when Michael Keaton put on the cape in 1989. Whether it's Keaton, Christian Bale, or Robert Pattinson, Netflix will soon be home to whatever version of the Dark Knight you're a fan of — not to mention Superman and any other DC Comics character.

• A version of this story originally appeared in the BI Tech Memo newsletter.
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How much would you pay for a single AI killer app?

Hedge fund honcho Sam Leffell has views. I got to know Sam while researching ChatGPT's predictive abilities. He uses that leading AI tool constantly for work and in his personal life.

He also tried Google's Gemini earlier this year and became obsessed with a Gmail feature called Polish that uses AI to improve any email with at least 12 words in it. You just press Alt+H on Windows PCs, or Option+H on Macs, and Gemini swoops into action. (That's polish, the shining process, not Polish the language).

Sam said this was the most useful Gemini feature. "Writing emails now takes a fraction of the time it used to," he said. "I still make picky edits, but it's a lot quicker and better."

Here's the wrinkle: He turned off his Gemini paid subscription after a while because, anecdotally for him, it was not as good as ChatGPT. Then, the Polish feature from his Gmail suddenly disappeared. Unacceptable!

"That surprised me," Sam said. "So now I'm paying Google a certain amount each month, just to have this button to polish all my emails. That's how valuable this is."

The first paid tier of Gemini is $20 a month. That's a lot for one feature.

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• The Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery deal would be one of the biggest ever in the media industry.
• WBD CEO David Zaslav told employees not to worry in a town hall on Friday afternoon.
• "Netflix is an exceptional company" with "a great, sustainable future," Zaslav said.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav presented an upbeat take on the company's new mega-merger with Netflix during a Friday all-hands with employees.

"This is a big day for Warner Bros.," Zaslav said at a company global town hall, a recording of which was obtained by Business Insider.

Netflix plans to buy the Warner Bros. studio and streaming assets in an industry-shaking $72 billion deal, the companies announced on Friday. WBD's TV networks like CNN and TNT will be part of a spinoff in mid-2026, as the media conglomerate had originally planned.

WBD's town hall on Friday afternoon at 1:30 pm ET seemed designed to answer employees' questions and assuage any fears about the Netflix deal. Zaslav also sent a memo to staffers, several of whom told BI they were worried about their job security as the company undergoes another major deal. That's especially true because Netflix has its own top-tier tech that could render some of WBD's obsolete.

"The intention is, they want to keep most people," Zaslav said of Netflix on the call.

WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who will lead Discovery Global after it's spun off from the main company, said on the call that while the WBD as the world knows it will come to an end, he's excited for the future.

"It's an emotional day, I think, for all of us," Wiedenfels said.

What WBD execs said about the split, bidding war, and sale

Early on the call, Zaslav acknowledged that WBD and its employees had gone through a slew of changes since he engineered a merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery in 2021.

"In the end, we've gotten a lot more right than we've gotten wrong," Zaslav said.

The WBD CEO reiterated that the company had planned to split itself before Paramount expressed its interest with an unsolicited offer. As a public company, Zaslav explained that it was executives' duties to get the best possible offer.

"Our No. 1 focus is to drive shareholder value," Zaslav said.

As Netflix, Paramount Skydance, and Comcast put forth offers, Zaslav said that the bidding war got noisy.

"It was more public than we would have liked," Zaslav said of the bidding process.

WBD employees should be flattered by the interest from Netflix and other companies, Zaslav said.

"They wanted to figure out how to get into business with all of you," Zaslav said of WBD's suitors. He also said there may be more noise ahead, so "put your seatbelts on."

In the end, WBD executives told employees that they took the best offer on the table.

"Netflix is an exceptional company," Zaslav said. "I think it has a great, sustainable future."

As Netflix incorporates HBO Max content, Zaslav said that "more people will be getting nourished" by HBO and Warner Bros. content.

Netflix execs also explained their views on the deal

After announcing its blockbuster deal on Friday, Netflix also moved to answer questions from Wall Street analysts, investors, employees, movie-theater owners, and government regulators.

Here's what Greg Peters, the Netflix co-CEO, said about the deal on a call with analysts: "This acquisition will allow us to significantly expand our production capacity in the United States and keep investing in original content over the long term. That means more opportunities for creative talent; it means more jobs created across the entire entertainment industry."

This story is developing and will be updated.

• A version of this story originally appeared in the BI Tech Memo newsletter.
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OpenAI spread itself too thin, and CEO Sam Altman knows it.

His "Code Red" to employees this week marks a reset: Focus on improving ChatGPT, and pause lower-priority initiatives. The most striking pause is advertising. Why delay such a lucrative opportunity at a moment when OpenAI's finances face intense scrutiny?

Because in tech, nothing matters more than users.

Google built its Search empire on this principle. Every query and click fed a feedback loop: user behavior informed ranking systems, which improved results, which attracted more users. Over time, that loop became an impenetrable moat. Competing with it has proven nearly impossible.

ChatGPT occupies a similar position for AI assistants. Nearly a billion people now interact with it weekly, giving OpenAI an unmatched new window into human intent, curiosity, and decision-making. Each prompt and reply can be fed back into model training, evaluations, and reinforcement learning to strengthen what is arguably the world's most powerful AI feedback loop.

Altman's Code Red aims to protect that advantage. If ChatGPT becomes more useful, people will use it more, which strengthens the loop, which improves the product again — a compounding cycle that could make ChatGPT as unassailable in AI answers as Google is in search.

But that dominance is no longer assured. Google's Gemini 3 rollout has lured new users. If ChatGPT's quality slips or feels cluttered, defecting to Google becomes easier. Introducing ads now risks exactly that. Even mildly irritated users could view ads as one annoyance too many.

For now, OpenAI is betting on new model releases to reaccelerate ChatGPT's growth. Ads can wait, but not forever. Generative AI is expensive to run, more so than Search or social networks. OpenAI has already committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure to serve ChatGPT at a global scale. At some point, those bills will force the company to monetize more aggressively.

If OpenAI manages to build even half of Google's Search ads business in an AI-native form, it could generate roughly $50 billion in annual profit. That's one way to fund its colossal ambitions.

But that future depends on the strength of today's feedback loop. For now, the priority is clear: make ChatGPT undeniably better, pull more users in, and keep the flywheel spinning. Ads can come later. User growth can't wait.

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