Netflix’s sweeping bid for Warner Bros. Discovery has taken on an unmistakable political undertone, after co-CEO Ted Sarandos revealed he personally pitched President Donald Trump on the deal before it was announced.
Sarandos, speaking Monday at the UBS media conference, said Netflix and the White House had found unusual alignment, even as analysts warn that the streaming giant still faces a bruising regulatory test.
Sarandos said their conversations went beyond courtesy calls, noting that he had spoken with Trump “many times since the election about the different challenges facing the entertainment industry.” He framed the administration’s view as practical and centered on employment.
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“The president’s interests in this are the same as ours, which is to create and protect jobs,” he said, presenting Netflix as a stabilizing force at a time when Hollywood remains uneasy over consolidation.
Trump reinforced that cordiality on Sunday, calling Sarandos a “great person” who had done “one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies.” At the same time, he signaled that Netflix’s enormous footprint could still trigger antitrust scrutiny, saying the platform’s “big market share” might be “a problem” as it tries to acquire one of Hollywood’s oldest studios.
The deal, valued at $82.7 billion including $72 billion in equity, covers Warner Bros.’ film and streaming assets but leaves out WBD’s declining cable networks like CNN and HGTV.
Those networks are precisely what Netflix avoided, and Paramount Skydance embraced. On Monday, Paramount fired back with a hostile $30-per-share, all-cash offer to buy the entirety of WBD, including the legacy networks that investors have increasingly treated as liabilities. Netflix’s $27.75-per-share proposal mixes cash with some stock and hinges on the idea that Warner Bros.’ core studio and Max streaming service are the crown jewels worth salvaging.
Sarandos shrugged off Paramount’s counter, saying the move “was entirely expected.” Yet the fight escalated quickly, with Paramount CEO David Ellison taking to CNBC hours after the market opened to call his company’s offer “pro-consumer, pro-creative talent,” and “pro-competition.” He insisted that Paramount’s bid would breeze through regulatory review faster than Netflix’s, which he implied would face more skepticism given Netflix’s scale.
Ellison’s confidence also reflects a degree of political cover. His father, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, is one of Trump’s closest allies, and that relationship has been noted in market circles since the moment Paramount entered the bidding war.
Still, Netflix appears to be building a channel of goodwill with Trump as well. Co-CEO Greg Peters said he is “very confident that regulators should, and will, approve” the transaction, pointing to Netflix’s commitment to keep Warner Bros.’ theatrical pipeline intact. Sarandos went even further, insisting Netflix would handle Warner Bros.’ movies “exactly the way they’ve released those movies today,” an assurance that appears aimed partly at the White House and partly at unions still nursing resentment from the last round of industry consolidation.
Sarandos also sought to cast Netflix as the protector of Hollywood employment, a sensitive issue in an industry rattled by recent strikes, studio cutbacks, and a historic contraction in cable advertising. He contrasted Netflix’s approach directly with Ellison’s. Paramount has promised roughly $6 billion in “synergies” from any merger with WBD. Sarandos interpreted that as a coded guarantee of massive layoffs.
“Where do you think synergies come from? Cutting jobs,” he said. “We’re not cutting jobs — we’re making jobs.”
What Sarandos did not highlight is that Netflix itself has pledged between $2 billion and $3 billion in cost savings tied to its own offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. Investors expect those reductions to come from overlapping marketing, tech, back-office functions, and real estate. Sarandos argued that any restructuring Netflix undertakes would not jeopardize the creative workforce, though analysts say the distinction may be difficult to sustain if the merger closes.
Warner Bros. Discovery, a company born from a previous megamerger, remains weighed down by heavy debt, a struggling cable portfolio, and a streaming division that has been retooled repeatedly. The battle now underway — Netflix’s cleaner, asset-focused bid versus Paramount’s all-in sweep — will shape the future of one of Hollywood’s most storied studios, determine which streaming platform holds the next wave of bargaining power, and test how the Trump administration approaches the entertainment industry during a period of rapid upheaval.