Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos Met With Trump Over Warner Deal

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos held a private meeting with President Donald Trump last November to discuss the streaming giant’s $82.7 billion bid for Warner Bros. The encounter, which has surfaced amid intense scrutiny over the potential regulatory approval of the merger, signals a high-stakes effort by Netflix to navigate the incoming administration’s antitrust stance.

For weeks, industry analysts had positioned Paramount as the likely buyer for the studio, largely due to CEO David Ellison’s established ties to the Trump administration. However, reports from Bloomberg and The Hollywood Reporter reveal that Sarandos took a direct approach to ensure the president would not reflexively block the transaction.

The President’s Stance on the Acquisition

Following reports of the meeting, Trump confirmed the discussion took place. While he expressed personal admiration for the Netflix executive, he remained non-committal regarding the regulatory outcome:

• “Netflix is a great company. They’ve done a phenomenal job.”
• “Ted is a fantastic man. I have a lot of respect for him.”
• “But it’s a lot of market share, so we’ll have to see what happens.”

During their November talk, Trump reportedly advised Sarandos that the studio should be sold to the highest bidder. Sources suggest the Netflix leader left the meeting with the impression that the administration would not move to immediately oppose the acquisition.

Internal Friction at Warner Bros.

The path to this deal has been complicated by internal resistance at Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav had reportedly been hesitant to part with the company. He was particularly caught off guard when Paramount began exploring an acquisition, as he had anticipated that Ellison would hold off on any approach until the studio finalized its planned separation of movie and streaming assets from its cable networks.

Warner Bros. eventually committed to evaluating competing offers, triggering a bidding war that Netflix ultimately won. Despite this, the situation remains fluid, as Paramount maintains the potential to launch a hostile takeover bid to disrupt the current agreement.