Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos will meet with Attorney General Pam Bondi, antitrust officials from the Department of Justice and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles as the executive heads to Washington on Thursday, according to the New York Post’s Charlie Gasparino.
The meeting, which TheWrap previously reported would focus on the streamer’s $83 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets, comes as President Trump has demanded that Netflix fire board member and former UN ambassador Susan Rice or “pay the consequences.”
It is unclear if Sarandos will also meet with Trump, though his schedule states that he will hold a private meeting in the Oval Office at 3 p.m. ET.
Representatives for Netflix and the White House declined to comment on the meeting. A spokesperson for the DOJ did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Trump’s call to fire Rice came after she said that corporations who “bent the knee” to the administration would face consequences of their own when Democrats return to power.
In a Truth Social post over the weekend, he called Rice “racist” and “deranged” and said she has “no talent or skills.” He also questioned how much she is being paid by Netflix and said that her “power is gone and will never be back.”
In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Sarandos brushed off the president’s comment about Rice, saying Trump “likes to do a lot of things on social media.”
“This is a business deal. It’s not a political deal,” Sarandos added. “This deal is run by the Department of Justice in the U.S. and regulators throughout Europe and around the world.”
In addition to Trump’s comments, the DOJ issued a civil investigative demand (CID) to theater owners, filmmakers and producers to get their input as part of its antitrust review of the Netflix deal as it evaluates whether a combination with Warner Bros. would hurt consumers, the theatrical business, competition and jobs in Hollywood.
A group of 11 Republican state attorneys general have warned a deal with Warner Bros. would give Netflix “undue market concentration that stifles competition” and create “higher prices, lower reliability, and less innovation for one of America’s major industries—all to the detriment of American consumers.” Meanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has called for a “full and robust” review of both the Netflix deal and Paramount’s rival bid for all of WBD.
Netflix has repeatedly maintained that it has “not been given any notice or seen any other sign that the DOJ is conducting a monopolization investigation.” It also said that any claim that it is a monopolist, or seeking to monopolize, is “unfounded.”
“Our success stems from innovation and investment that benefit consumers,” Netflix chief legal officer David Hyman said. “We neither hold monopoly power nor engage in exclusionary conduct, and we’ll gladly cooperate, as we always do, with regulators on any concerns they may have.”
As Sarandos heads to Washington, the Warner Bros. Discovery board is continuing to engage with Paramount CEO David Ellison after determining his latest $31 per share offer could “reasonably be expected” to lead to a “superior proposal.”
Ellison’s tenth bid includes a daily ticking fee equal to 25 cents per quarter beginning after Sept. 30, 2026. Paramount will pay a $7 billion termination fee to WBD in the event the transaction does not close due to regulatory matters. It will also cover a $2.8 billion termination fee that WBD would be required to pay to Netflix and agreed to eliminate $1.5 billion in potential financing costs associated with WBD’s debt exchange offer.
Additionally, the proposal includes an obligation to contribute additional equity funding to the extent needed to support the solvency certificate required by Paramount’s lending banks and a “material adverse affect” definition that excludes the performance of WBD’s Global Linear Networks business.
WBD’s board has not determined whether the revised Paramount bid is superior to the Netflix. In the event that it does, Netflix will have four business days to match Paramount’s offer and negotiate with WBD to propose any revisions to its current deal, which is offering $27.75 per share plus additional “stub equity” from the pending spinoff of Warner’s cable networks into Discovery Global.
The Netflix deal remains in effect and the board is not withdrawing or modifying its recommendation. Shareholders are set to vote on the Netflix deal on March 20 at 8 a.m. ET. Netflix has said it expects a deal to close within 12 to 18 months, pending regulatory approval, while Paramount has argued a potential deal with Warner Bros. would close within a year.
