"Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says President Donald Trump is all business as the Department of Justice weighs the streaming giant's potential acquisition of Warner Bros. "The only thing we talk about is how to keep jobs in America, how to keep the production industry healthy," Sarandos said of his talks with Trump during an appearance on Puck's " The Town" podcast. Trump "wants to know what happened in California," Sarandos said in the podcast episode, referencing the state's film and TV production decline."
"Hollywood has increasingly gone outside Los Angeles to make movies and shows in recent years, lured by tax credits in places ranging from Atlanta to the United Kingdom. On-location shooting days for movies and TV shows in the LA area fell 21% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to a study from FilmLA Research published in mid-January. This production drop has hurt LA's creative community."
"Netflix has been on a charm campaign to convince the president and Hollywood that it would be a better buyer of Warner Bros. than rival bidder Paramount Skydance. A key part of Netflix's pitch is that it would cut fewer jobs than Paramount. Paramount has said it's planning to create $6 billion in so-called synergies, which would likely include layoffs, while Netflix has told investors it's aiming for $2 billion to $3 billion in cost cuts, in part by saving money on licensing programming."
Ted Sarandos says conversations with President Trump about Netflix's potential acquisition of Warner Bros. have focused on keeping and bringing production jobs back to the United States. Trump has not sought political concessions and has asked about the decline in California film and TV production. Production has moved away from Los Angeles toward regions offering tax credits, contributing to a 21% year-over-year drop in LA on-location shooting days in Q4 2025. Netflix emphasizes it would cut fewer jobs than rival Paramount Skydance and projects smaller cost reductions while pursuing savings partly through licensing.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]