Netflix Paid $587 Million for Ben Affleck’s AI Startup InterPositive
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- Netflix paid approximately $587 million in cash to acquire Ben Affleck's AI startup InterPositive, per a Form 10-Q filing with the SEC.
- The acquisition closed in March, and Bloomberg previously reported the total could reach up to $600 million for Affleck and InterPositive's investors, with additional amounts tied to 'certain performance targets.'
- InterPositive, founded by Affleck in 2022 and operated in stealth mode, builds AI tools that let filmmakers train models from production dailies to assist with mixing, relighting, and visual effects — described as an alternative to typical visual generative efforts.
- The deal brought InterPositive's 16-person team of engineers, researchers, and creatives to Netflix, with Affleck joining as a senior adviser.
- Ted Sarandos said on Netflix's Q2 earnings call that roughly 300 of the company's titles have used some form of generative AI this year, calling the InterPositive deal still in 'early days.'
- Sarandos cited the docuseries 'The American Experiment' as a case where AI produced sequences 'twice as fast and at half the cost of previous options,' while insisting 'AI is not changing that' great artists make great work.
Why it matters: The $587 million price tag — disclosed months after the deal closed — lands near the top of earlier estimates and cements Netflix's nine-figure bet on filmmaker-facing AI tooling, with Sarandos already pointing to 'twice as fast and at half the cost' sequences on 'The American Experiment' as proof of concept across roughly 300 AI-assisted titles this year.
