Lucas Shaw on how Ted Sarandos positioned Netflix to win the $83B deal for Warner Bros: ▫️Sarandos met with President Trump mid-November ▫️made the case that Netflix acquiring HBO Max would not create a monopoly (said Netflix was only 5th or 6th largest TV distributor in the US and competes with non-streamers such as YouTube) ▫️President Trump said the “highest bidder” should win ▫️Sarandos had established relationship last December by having dinner with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago (they’d never met and Sarandos realized Netflix didn’t know anyone in incoming admin) ▫️establishing the relationship was important especially as the other main bidder Paramount (with Ellison family) have ties to White House While Netflix traditionally preferred to build over buy, it’s been considering a major deal as its maxxing out subscriber base. The streamer looked at Disney and Electronic Arts as potential targets but didn’t pursue. When Paramount started making bids for Warner Bros, Netflix decided to get involved. As recently as mid-October, Co-CEO Greg Peters was saying they were “sceptical” of major media mergers. This was a bit of misdirection, as Netflix told Warners Bros management that Peters would make the statement (while both parties did M&A diligence). Ultimately, Netflix offered $27.75 for Warner Bros studio and HBO Max (and shareholders to get another $3-$4 per share for the Discovery Global cable TV spin off). Combined, this was higher than Paramount’s $30 per share offer for all the assets. *** Full Bloomberg link: