Netflix just blinked. And the consequences for American media, press freedom and the concentration of political power in entertainment could be staggering.
On Thursday, Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters formally declined to raise their offer for Warner Bros. Discovery after the WBD board declared Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion bid “superior.” In a statement that read more like a disciplined retreat than a white flag, the Netflix chiefs said the deal was “no longer financially attractive” at the price required to match Paramount’s escalating offers.
Translation: Netflix decided overpaying for a debt-laden media conglomerate wasn’t worth it, even if walking away hands one of the most consequential media empires in American history to a family with deepening ties to the Trump White House.
The Ellison Empire Takes Shape
If this deal closes, and there are still regulatory hurdles ahead, David Ellison will control an astonishing portfolio: CBS, CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. studios, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, HBO Max, Discovery networks, and a significant stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations. All of it bankrolled substantially by his father Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder, major Trump donor and one of the wealthiest people on the planet.
That is not a media company. That is a media government.
The combined entity would merge two of Hollywood’s five major studios, unite Paramount+ and HBO Max into a genuine Netflix competitor, and place two of America’s most important television newsrooms under one ownership structure. The franchise library alone reads like a pop culture constitution: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, DC Comics, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Top Gun. The deal also includes financing from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, adding yet another layer of geopolitical complexity to what’s already the most politically charged media transaction in decades.
The Trump Factor Is Not Subtle
Let’s be direct about what happened here. Two days before Netflix’s surrender, David Ellison sat in the House chamber for President Trump’s State of the Union address as the guest of Senator Lindsey Graham. The two flashed thumbs-up signs for the cameras. The same week, Netflix’s Sarandos went to the White House for what was described as a last-ditch effort to make the company’s case, though officials were quick to clarify he did not meet with Trump himself.
Trump has been anything but neutral in this fight. He told reporters in December that it was “imperative that CNN be sold” and called its leadership “either corrupt or incompetent.” He publicly stated he would be “involved in that decision” regarding the WBD deal, then awkwardly reversed course weeks later, telling an interviewer he “hasn’t been involved.” David Ellison held a private White House meeting with the president earlier this month.
The track record at CBS under Ellison’s ownership has already drawn sharp criticism. Paramount installed Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. Stephen Colbert’s Late Show was canceled. A 60 Minutes segment critical of the Trump administration was temporarily shelved. And just this month, Paramount attempted to censor a Colbert interview with a Texas Senate candidate, a move that backfired spectacularly when millions watched the interview on YouTube instead.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly praised the CBS News changes, telling Semafor he was pleased the network had agreed to “more fact-based, unbiased reporting.” That sentence should make every journalist in America uncomfortable.
What CNN Faces Now
Inside CNN’s newsroom, the mood shifted fast. CEO Mark Thompson sent an internal memo urging staff not to “jump to conclusions about the future until we know more.” That’s the kind of corporate reassurance that tends to have the opposite effect.
Under the Netflix deal, CNN would have been spun off into a separate entity with WBD’s cable assets, effectively insulating the newsroom from streaming consolidation politics. Netflix had no interest in owning CNN. Paramount explicitly does. Ellison has signaled from the beginning that CNN would be part of any acquisition.
The fear, articulated by critics from MSNBC’s Ari Melber to Senator Elizabeth Warren, is that CNN could “get the CBS treatment.” A network Trump has attacked relentlessly for years would land in the hands of an ownership group that has already demonstrated willingness to reshape editorial operations at its existing news properties. Anderson Cooper, who recently declined to renew his 60 Minutes deal with CBS after nearly two decades, may find himself reporting to Paramount again regardless.
Netflix Made the Smart Financial Call. The Democracy Question Is Harder.
Wall Street loved Netflix’s discipline. Shares surged on the news, with HSBC analysts noting the company is now “free to refocus on its business” while competitors wrestle with regulatory approvals, integration headaches and enormous deal debt. Paramount stock jumped 17% on the same day.
And the financial skepticism about Paramount’s ability to make this work is legitimate. Warner Bros. Discovery carries roughly $40 billion in debt from its previous disastrous merger. Paramount is layering on more. The $7 billion regulatory termination fee, the $2.8 billion Netflix breakup fee, the $45.7 billion in equity commitments. The deal values WBD at nearly 13 times its estimated core earnings, according to LSEG. Cable television, the cash engine that historically funded these empires, is in irreversible decline. Thousands of layoffs are virtually guaranteed.
As one Emarketer analyst put it, the deal is “more about Ellison taking over Hollywood and ego than it is about good business sense.”
But good business sense isn’t really the point, is it?
The Consolidation Picture Is Alarming
Step back and look at what has happened in less than a year. The Ellison family, through Paramount Skydance and with help from Saudi capital, has assembled or is assembling control over CBS, CNN, HBO, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, two major streaming platforms and a piece of TikTok. Larry Ellison’s Oracle already runs much of the digital infrastructure of U.S. commerce and government.
Senator Warren called the potential deal an “antitrust disaster,” warning that “a handful of Trump-aligned billionaires are trying to seize control of what you watch and charge you whatever price they want.” Writing in the conservative National Review, commentator Jeffrey Blehar offered a bipartisan concern, saying he was shaken not just by the “seemingly open corruption of this entire process” but by “how little people will care.”
The regulatory path forward is uncertain. The Trump Justice Department is unlikely to challenge a deal that benefits a political ally. But state attorneys general, including Republican ones, may prove to be the wildcard. Montana AG Austin Knudsen, a Republican, already wrote a forceful op-ed opposing media consolidation, arguing that Hollywood’s strength was built on competition between rival studios, not monopolistic control.
What Happens Next
The WBD board still needs to formally adopt the Paramount merger agreement. Shareholder approval from both companies is required. Regulatory review will take months at minimum. And there’s a nonzero chance the whole thing collapses under its own financial weight, particularly if the AI hype bubble deflates and takes Larry Ellison’s Oracle-fueled fortune with it.
But barring surprises, this is the trajectory: one family, aligned with the sitting president, backed by Middle Eastern sovereign wealth, controlling a media empire that reaches into nearly every American living room, phone screen and streaming queue.
Netflix walked away because the numbers didn’t work. The rest of us should be asking whether the numbers are even the right thing to be worried about.
