Netflix v Paramount: Trump wades into Warner Bros battle – The Latest

Today in Focus

The Guardian

Daily News, News

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

The battle to buy Warner Bros Discovery has captured Donald Trump’s attention. The US president has said he will be involved in the decision on the company’s sale as Netflix and Paramount fight to take over the entertainment company. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian US’s deputy business editor, Callum Jones – Watch on YouTube. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:02.0	I have to see what percentage of market they have.
0:16.0	We have to see the Netflix percentage of market, Paramount.
0:19.0	I mean, none of them are particularly great friends,
0:21.7	him. He said he'll be involved so we can assume that he and his shadow will really loom over
0:27.2	this entire process. It is telling that both in Hollywood and in Washington, there has been
0:33.6	quite heavy resistance to a deal actually involving either side.
0:42.8	How Donald Trump could be involved in a Hollywood multi-billion dollar bidding war and what it means for your TV viewing. From The Guardians today in Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy
0:48.3	Hoff.
0:52.4	Joining me is Callum Jones, Deputy Business Editor at The Guardian.
0:56.0	Hi, Callum, nice to have you with us.
0:57.4	Hi, nice to be here.
0:58.6	So, Callum, let's look at what happened just before the weekend
1:02.1	when one of the biggest deals in Hollywood history really looked like it was on the brink of being wrapped up.
1:08.1	Netflix had agreed to spend over 80 billion US dollars to buy Warner Brothers Discovery,
1:15.2	which owns Warner Brothers Studios,
1:16.7	which owns so much of what we watch and love on TV,
1:19.9	Friends, Game of Thrones, 8-Vo Max and Succession, etc.
1:24.9	But the picture's now much more complicated.
1:30.5	There's been a hostile bid to last night.
1:35.7	Talk me through what's happened. So you have to wind back to the start of this summer when David Ellison finally bought Paramount Global with the backing of his dad, Larry, who's one of the
1:41.7	richest men in the world. Yeah, a tech billionaire founder of Oracle has briefly overtaken Elon Musk as one of the richest men in the world. Yeah, a tech billionaire founder of Oracle
	...

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