Buckle your seatbelts — Netflix might be in for a real fight when it comes to their acquisition of Warner Bros.
President Donald Trump on Sunday confirmed he recently met Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos to discuss the Warner Bros. deal — and laid out his concerns about the market share resulting from combining Netflix with WB and HBO Max. He said it “could be a problem,” adding that it “must go through a process, and we’ll see what happens.”
Trump confirmed that the acquisition will require a review and said, “I’ll be involved in that decision.”
According to Trump, Sarandos visited the White House last week, with the president calling the Netflix head “a fantastic man.” He added, “I have a lot of respect for him, but it’s a lot of market share.”
Trump also said of Sarandos, “He’s a great person… He’s got a lot of interesting things happening aside from what you’re talking about, but it is a big market share. There’s no question about it. It could be a problem.”
Netflix plans to add HBO Max to its streaming service, which already has over 300 million subscribers. Warner Bros. Discovery has 128 million streaming subscribers, including HBO Max.
There was never any question that Trump’s DOJ and the FTC would review the Netflix-WB deal. There have already been leaks to the press that the DOJ’s antitrust chief was preparing to launch a “sweeping multi-year investigation” into Netflix’s dominance and alleged monopoly over streaming. Officials appeared to be “unmoved” by Netflix’s insistence that its recent lobbying efforts regarding WB do not violate antitrust law.
In the meantime, Skydance/Paramount are not giving up. They’re preparing a “hostile bid” for Warner Bros., described as a “counteroffensive” that includes going directly to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders.