Top Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix executives will defend the competitive merits of their $83 billion merger before a Senate antitrust committee today.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner’s top M&A executive are expected to argue that they are seeking to compete head-to-head with Alphabet’s YouTube, and that comparing their combined business to other “conventional” streamers is fallacious.
It’s an argument that has yielded strenuous pushback from Paramount, which is seeking to beat back Netflix in its own bid for WBD.
“The Board and Shareholders were told they compete with TikTok, Facebook and YouTube — I guess I will go to TikTok next time I want to watch Game of Thrones, Landman and the Sopranos,” Paramount’s top lawyer wrote on LinkedIn.
Netflix and WBD face an uphill battle — committee chair Mike Lee, R-Utah, has already raised “grave doubts” about the proposed merger.