[Reuters] Netflix to buy Warner Bros Discovery's studios, streaming unit for $72 billion

[Signalstar]

SanAndreasX said:

Signalstar said:

Normally I don't have faith that Trump's business friendly administration would block this merger, but Trump's buddy and mega donor Larry Ellison is reportedly salty that his company lost out in the bidding war. Maybe he will lobby Trump to stop it. That would be a corrupt turn of events of course. It should be blocked because it is bad for the industry, competition and consumers.

Bad idea. Blocking Netflix would automatically result in Trump basically handing WB over to Ellison. And given the mess the Ellisons have made of Paramount and CBS, that would be a disaster, both artistically and politically. Ellison would cancel South Park, except that Trey and Matt have the best legal team in the entertainment industry and made sure that any attempt Ellison made to fuck them over would be painful. Even so, it's speculated that Ellison is hindering them as much as he can legally get away with. 

Like it or not, a merger is going to happen, and Netflix is the least of the four evils in this scenario (the other three are Ellison, Comcast, and the Saudi PIF). 

I hope that a subsequent Paramount bid would also fail to pass, likely under the next (hopefully Democratic) administration. I don't want WB to be acquired at all. Hollywood consolidation has been terrible for the industry.  The most recent successes I can think of blocked mergers are JetBlue and Spirit and also HarperCollins and Penguin being blocked. We need more blocked mergers.