Streaming giant Netflix is planning a Trumpian charm offensive on the heels of some very anti-MAGA comments made by one of its board members and as it faces heightened scrutiny from White House antitrust regulators over its planned purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studio units, The Post has learned.
The maneuvers come as Paramount Skydance submitted its last and final offer for WBD on Sunday, said sources with knowledge of the matter. The company previously weighed taking its bid up to around $32 a share.
In Netflix land, the planned meetings, which have yet to be reported, could include a face-to-face sit-down between CEO Ted Sarandos, and President Trump, according to one person with knowledge of the matter. Over the weekend, Trump lashed out at the streaming giant in a social media post after Susan Rice, a Netflix board member and top Democrat, warned that corporations that “take a knee” to the Trump administration should expect to be “held accountable” if Dems return to power.
The comments prompted Trump to threaten to derail the Netflix-WBD deal unless it fired the former national security adviser under President Obama.
A Netflix spokeswoman had no comment about Rice but would not deny the planned meetings.
The charm offensive comes at a critical time for Netflix to fulfill its growth strategy – including its purchase of WBD’s streaming and studio in a $73 billion deal – and it goes beyond Rice’s inopportune comments. Inside the DOJ antitrust division, which can seek to block the merger forcing the matter before a federal court, there is growing skepticism about layering Netflix’s No 1 streaming service on top of WBD’s No. 3 ranked, HBO Max.
Also not helping Netflix’s cause: Public statements dismissing an early-stage DOJ inquiry that the entire company might constitute a streaming monopoly under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, the bedrock federal law guiding antitrust. As one senior regulatory official in the Trump Administration told The Post: “Sarandos and Netflix have been misleading people about the breadth and depth of their DOJ problems.”
Rival Paramount Skydance, meanwhile, is seeking to upend the transaction with a hostile offer for the entire company, with a key deadline to make its last and final bid expiring at 11:59 p.m. Monday.
As this piece went to press, the exact dollar amount of Paramount’s final bid was not known. Known in media circles as PSKY, the company was more focused on getting certain guarantees — namely that Warner Bros. was engaging in a good faith effort to consider its bid and not look for ways to shoot it down and hand the deal to Netflix. Paramount argued in the past that WBD’s CEO David Zaslav took an inferior Netflix bid based on his close relationship with Sarandos.
Sources said WBD could make an announcement on the status of the PSKY offering before Tuesday’s opening bell.
Paramount is run by indie producer David Ellison and his father, Trump-ally and mega billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. They and their bankers have been locked in around-the-clock meetings with the WBD board. Sources say they have eyed increasing their $30-a share-bid worth around $78 billion by as much as $3 a share — to nearly $85 billion — but have been reluctant to do so given the internal politics at WBD. It’s the reason they have taken their case to shareholders with their hostile offering.
Under the terms of the deal, Netflix then will have an opportunity to increase its $73 billion, $27.75 a share bid. Shareholders will have the near final say when WBD holds a shareholder vote in March.
Regulators have already begun scrutinizing both offers, though Netflix’s plans have drawn the most heat. In recent months, the company hired a slew of Trump-friendly lobbyists to press the company’s case that its combo wouldn’t violate antitrust laws given the intense competition over viewing entertainment posed by social media.
If anything, the antitrust worries by the administration have grown more intense as of late, with a standard deal inquiry morphing into a broader inquiry into the pricing power of Netflix’s business model in the world of streaming, an increasingly important venue Americans use to view entertainment.
Sarandos and Trump have met before, and they seemed to hit it off when they discussed WBD during a sitdown in November. But now Sarandos and his team will also have to answer for Rice’s comments made last week during a podcast hosted by Preet Bharara, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a longtime Democrat and also a frequent critic of the president.
“If these corporations think that the Democrats, when they come back in power, are going to, you know, play by the old rules, and, you know, say, ‘Oh, never mind. We’ll forgive you for all the people you fired, all the policies and principles you’ve violated, all, you know, the laws you’ve skirted.’ I think they’ve got another thing coming,” Rice said last week.
The timing of her comments couldn’t have been worse given the high-stakes drama over the deal and the administration’s regulatory review. Indeed, her threat of retribution prompted an angry outburst from Trump, who issued his own demand.
“Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences,” Trump posted on his own Truth Social account on Saturday.
“She’s got no talent or skills – Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK. How much is she being paid, and for what??? Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”
On Sunday, Sarandos offered some awkward commentary when he was tracked down by reporters saying, “This is a business deal. It’s not a political deal. This deal is run by the Department of Justice in the U.S., and regulators throughout Europe and around the world.”
Maybe he should try saying that to Trump when they next meet. The president already stated that he will play a role in the sale of Warner Bros. Discovery.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
