In November, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, met with Donald Trump at the White House to discuss various topics, including Netflix’s intention to bid for Warner Bros. According to Bloomberg, Sarandos emerged from the meeting with a sense that Netflix would likely not encounter immediate opposition from the White House regarding this endeavor.
This week, Netflix successfully concluded a bidding process to acquire Warner Bros., offering $82.7 billion. Paramount, led by CEO David Ellison, had also shown interest in acquiring Warner Bros. and its streaming assets. The Ellisons have established ties to the White House, and they suggested in their pitch to Warner that their connections would enable them to navigate any regulatory challenges related to media consolidation.
Sarandos appears to have assessed correctly that the Ellisons may have overestimated their influence. Despite some public attempts by Paramount to undermine Netflix’s bid by appealing to the White House, Netflix ultimately prevailed for the time being. However, the situation remains fluid, as there is potential for Paramount to initiate a hostile takeover or for the Justice Department to intervene against the acquisition.
Sarandos previously attempted to acquire Paramount before David Ellison pursued it, making Netflix’s successful acquisition of Warner Bros. a noteworthy turn of events in the competitive landscape of media mergers and acquisitions. The future of the deal remains uncertain as regulatory scrutiny could still pose challenges.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/839749/netflix-ceo-visit-white-house-warner-bros