Feb 25 (Reuters) – Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos will attend meetings at the White House on Thursday to discuss the streaming giant’s bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery’s assets and President Donald Trump’s demand to remove board member Susan Rice, Politico reported on Wednesday.
In the heated takeover battle, Netflix has offered $27.75 per share or $82.7 billion for Warner Bros’s studio and streaming assets, while rival Paramount escalated the fight on Monday with a higher $31 per share offer for the whole company.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has demanded that Netflix fire its board member Rice after she said that corporations that “take a knee” to him could face consequences if Democrats regained power.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Netflix should fire “racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences”, hitching onto a post from right-wing activist Laura Loomer that he must kill the Netflix-Warner Bros deal.
However, Trump said earlier this month that he would stay out of the fight over Warner Bros and let the Justice Department handle it, reversing his position from late last year when he said he would be involved in reviewing the deal.
It was not immediately clear whether Sarandos would meet with Trump on Thursday, the Politico report said, citing two people familiar with the discussions.
The DOJ’s antitrust division is reviewing the proposed Netflix transaction, along with the competing, hostile bid from Paramount.
The recent departure of the division’s head has added uncertainty to enforcement as companies intensify lobbying around major merger cases.
Paramount’s CEO is David Ellison, whose father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, has cultivated a close relationship with Trump.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shinjini Ganguli)
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