After a few marathon days of telephone and video calls, emails and text message chains, the $82.7 billion agreement for Netflix to buy Warner Bros. and HBO Max was clinched Thursday night around 10 p.m. ET.

But there was no chance for high fives or a group huddle among the managers of the freshly betrothed media giants. In modern fashion, the sale negotiations were mostly conducted at arm’s length via phone and electronic communications, with Netflix and WBD executives and legal teams spread across New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and other locales.

Among the final hurdles to securing the initial agreement was WBD’s insistence that Netflix commit to a record-setting $5.8 billion breakup fee should the deal run into resistance, regulatory or otherwise.

Opposition to the deal ass

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