Ted Sarandos Talks Netflix Dropping WBD Bid, Adding That Spurning “CNN Business” Made Trump Disinterested & Paramount’s Final Offer Became “Irrational”

Last week, there was the shocking revelation that Netflix dropped its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (a company that includes the legacy film studio and the cable news network, CNN), as the Ellison Family-backed Paramount Skydance would keep pressure on for their own hostile bid, which seemingly came with support from President Trump (the Ellisons being billionaire Trump donors). After a White House meeting with Trump, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos would end their courtship for WBD would telegraph that the White House directly meddled (potentially illegal in itself when his Department of Justice isn’t supposed to be influenced by a president).

Sarandos did an interview with Bloomberg News, explaining what happened and their reasoning for ending the bid.

“We had a very tight range that we’d be willing to pay and made that offer back when we closed this deal. We hadn’t moved much from that, except for moving to cash, which served to move the deal faster. I’m happy where we got in and happy where we got out. We knew right away, when we got the notice on Thursday, that they had a superior offer and the details of that deal. We knew exactly what we were gonna do.”

READ MORE: David Ellison Says If Merger Clears, They Will Release 15 WB Movies A Year & Echoes Netflix’s 45-Day Theatrical Window Commitment

“I’m very confident that we had a clear regulatory path…It’s a lot cheaper to make noise than it is to actually raise your bid. So they tried that path first. Once it was clear that we weren’t in the CNN business, it was a lot less interesting. He didn’t care that much more about our deal,” Sarandros said of his meeting with Trump in Washington D.C., which didn’t go well when he expressed disinterest in overseeing CNN (there are expectations Ellison will seek to bend coverage to a pro-Trump narrative similar to what Bari Weiss is doing with CBS News and “60 Minutes“).

“Unusual, yeah, unusual, irrational, whatever words you want to use in that. It’ll be fascinating to see the next steps. I have been on the record a lot in the last two weeks talking about what I think the future looks like. I’m confident in our future that we’re not impacted by all that. In fact, maybe it’s to our advantage. But I hope I’m wrong for the sake of the industry,” Sarandros said of Ellison’s hostile bid and ultimately muscling Netflix out of their offer.

We don’t need to weep for the streamer, Netflix ends up pocketing $2.8 billion for its trouble, a cost that WBD had to cough up for walking away from the deal with Ted Sarandos, stating what they’ll be doing with that money: “Just keep investing in the business.” And, heaven forbid, if this new deal with Paramount Skydance doesn’t clear, Warner Bros. Discovery would end up getting a hefty $7 billion from Ellison, according to the details of the new bid.

Interestingly enough, after Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced their deal, Trump would go on to buy $2 million in investment bonds for both companies. How exactly that is even legal (likely isn’t legal and part of a possible larger ongoing corruption scheme that isn’t getting enough exposure from media or ethics bodies, such as selling access to big-tech/foreign governments and presidential pardons to convicted felons) when he has a heap of insider information on these deals (Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kusher was originally part of the Paramount Skydance investors alongside Middle Eastern countries) and is inserting himself in the regulatory procces, even on the sidelines, is blowing-up another presidential norm meant to curb political bias.

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We’ll see if Paramount Skydance is able to actually secure this massive industry deal. Just because Netflix has backed away doesn’t mean ALL concerns and hurdles have vanished entirely here. Stay tuned!