Exclusive | Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max would face stiff DOJ antitrust opposition: sources 

Netflix is making headway wooing Warner Bros. Discovery with an offer for the media big’s Hollywood studio and streaming service – however the proposed deal faces mounting opposition from the Trump administration, On The Money has discovered.

As The Post solely reported earlier in the week, senior White House officers who communicate on to President Trump held a assembly about 10 days in the past voicing opposition to Netflix’s megadeal over considerations that it could give the company an excessive amount of market energy.

Meanwhile, the bid also would face static from the Justice Department’s antitrust division led by division chief Gail Slater and her senior studies, who’ve not too long ago held a sequence of conferences on the Warner Bros Discovery bake-off, sources said.

Warner Bros. Discovery is now in the second round of its public sale. REUTERS

If Netflix wins the bidding battle to control HBO Max and the Warner Bros. studio, Slater & Co. mentioned how DOJ antitrust cops plan to launch a sweeping, multiyear investigation, according to people with direct information of the matter.

“Netflix has been running around Washington trying to convince everyone that their deal is fine from an antitrust standpoint,” said one former authorities official with firsthand information of the Trump administration’s considering.

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“No one is buying what they’re saying either at senior levels of the White House or DOJ antitrust,” the source added.

The key concern is that WBD’s streaming service, HBO Max, is the No. 3 streamer with 100 million subscribers. Combine it with the 300 million subscribers already held by No. 1 Netflix, and the merged entity could be twice as large as its nearest competitor in streaming, Disney.

Netflix chief Ted Sarandos is said to be close with WBD CEO David Zaslav. WireImage

US officers likewise fret that a Netflix win might take its pricing energy in streaming to a entire new anticompetitive level by combining Warner Bros. studio with its own Hollywood studio.

Indeed, antitrust officers are likening the Netflix buy of WBD to Ticketmaster, which has been in the regulatory crosshairs, shopping for a standard leisure venue like Madison Square Garden, people close to the matter say.

“Can you imagine Ticketmaster controlling the venue where every artist wants to play and what they could extract in terms of pricing power,” said a former DOJ official with direct information of the division’s current considering.

Justice Department antitrust officers are likening the Netflix buy of WBD to Ticketmaster, which has been in the regulatory crosshairs, shopping for a standard leisure venue like Madison Square Garden AP

“It’s no different here; everyone in Hollywood would be compelled to do business with Netflix and agree to its terms. It would have pricing power over consumers of content as well,” the source added.

A Netflix rep didn’t return repeated requires remark; DOJ had no rapid remark.

Warner Bros. Discovery, also often called WBD, is now in the second round of its public sale. In addition to Netflix, Paramount Skydance is bidding on the entire company, while media big Comcast, like Netflix, is trying to purchase WBDs streaming service and studio.

What has senior antitrust officers involved is the rising chance that Netflix will win the bidding conflict based on management synergies between WBD boss David Zaslav and Netflix chief Ted Sarandos.

Netflix and Paramount Skydance are seen as the main contenders. REUTERS

WBD might announce a winner as early as this week. It also might resolve to carry a third round of bidding to fetch a larger price for its property, which also embody cable properties like CNN and HBO. It might stroll away from the provides however insiders give that situation low odds, believing it could crush WBDs share price.

Netflix and Paramount Skydance, run by Hollywood producer David Ellison and his tech tycoon father Larry Ellison, are seen as the main contenders. Netflix is offering mostly cash for WBD’s studio and HBO Max streamer, while the Ellisons are offering all money for the complete company at a price of $25 a share or more.

Insiders say WBD in the end might be valued between $60 billion and $70 billion – more than twice what it was before the course of started. Comcast is offering money and stock, which is less engaging to shareholders.

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