Netflix buying Warner Bros or maybe Paramount is buying Warner Bros?

I read that Ellison was saying he was providing a guarantee that was not a guarantee. In other words, trying to gaslight Zaslav and the WB board. Bad strategy. They all have the best counsel and financial advisors. Claiming that a revocable trust out of which assets can be moved and substituted is not going to fool anyone and it's mind-boggling that they tried.
 
superrific said:
I read that Ellison was saying he was providing a guarantee that was not a guarantee. In other words, trying to gaslight Zaslav and the WB board. Bad strategy. They all have the best counsel and financial advisors. Claiming that a revocable trust out of which assets can be moved and substituted is not going to fool anyone and it's mind-boggling that they tried.
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It makes me wonder who they are trying to fool...is it WB or is it someone else who can decide the matter without Paramount actually having to put up the funds claimed?
 
SnoopRob said:
It makes me wonder who they are trying to fool...is it WB or is it someone else who can decide the matter without Paramount actually having to put up the funds claimed?
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Trump can't decide the matter. First, he has no power to make WB do anything. The shareholders could; that would be the open question. But will they?

If WB tries to go forward with Netflix, there are two situations depending on whether FCC approval is needed (I don't remember when it is needed, and I don't know exactly what assets are in the deal -- though I also suspect that anything requiring FCC approval can be spun off).

1. No FCC: federal government has limited power. They can issue what's called a "second request" for documents, which is a huge pain in the ass for the firms but the second request process has only 90 days to complete IIRC. After that, DOJ would have to sue to block. Very much doubt they have a winning case there. Federal courts of all stripes do not like antitrust enforcement. They feel as though the matters are outside of their expertise and the decisions can be of momentous importance. We recently saw that with google, and there are many other instances.

2. FCC: Here again, I don't think Trump can prevail, but the FCC process does not (IIRC) have the same statutory speed requirements as overall antitrust. So the FCC approval can drag out. That would be their best strategy -- basically slow-walk the approval until it's no longer worth doing.

If I was the antitrust attorney on the case -- I actually did do antitrust law for a couple of years at the very beginning of my career, but that was a long time ago -- I would be counseling the client to do whatever it takes to avoid FCC jurisdiction. Which they might have done or might not have. I don't remember the details of that process, as I never did an FCC merger.
 
nycfan said:
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Isn't CNN owned by Warner? If true, there is no doubt whatsoever that if Paramount buys Warner they'll very quickly do to CNN what they've done to CBS News - gut it and move it in a Trumper direction. Forcing CNN to become a Fox-type network would be Trump's wet dream - he'd gloat about that for months on social media. We're getting close to having almost every major legacy media network being owned by MAGA supporters. Which goes back to the point of maybe, just maybe, having a handful of billionaire plutocrats and their megacorporations owning nearly all of our news media outlets is not such a good idea.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
Isn't CNN owned by Warner? If true, there is no doubt whatsoever that if Paramount buys Warner they'll very quickly do to CNN what they've done to CBS News - gut it and move it in a Trumper direction. Forcing CNN to become a Fox-type network would be Trump's wet dream - he'd gloat about that for months on social media. We're getting close to having almost every major legacy media network being owned by MAGA supporters. Which goes back to the point of maybe, just maybe, having a handful of billionaire plutocrats and their megacorporations owning nearly all of our news media outlets is not such a good idea.
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It is Hungary.
 
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