The $100 Billion Dollar Deal that will Destroy Hollywood (ft Elizabeth Warren)

the entertainment industry is facing a crisis. With nearly a $100 billion bidding war between Paramount and Netflix over Warner Brothers, this could go down as one of the biggest cases of corruption, corporate greed, and frankly, a blatant violation of anti-trust laws in our lifetime. It would create a monopoly that would drastically depress the wages of actors, directors, producers, and anyone who works in film. It could kill the entire theatrical release process and increase the prices you pay for your streaming services. But even more so, it would give a disgusting amount of control to megacorporations and a handful of billionaires over the largest creative industry in the world. This merger could be so consequential that I had the opportunity to sit down with Senator Elizabeth Warren to hear her explain exactly how she thinks this could or might go through what the fallouts would be and how it will affect the film industry actors, people like me and you putting for subscription services, and also what it means for the future of corporate consolidation. She's someone who has dedicated years of her life and career to being blatantly outspoken against corporations, a very big proponent of more anti-trust laws and legislation that restricts the amount of consolidation these megacorporations can do. It is truly not every day when you get a chance to talk to a US Senator. So it is an honor and a privilege to say, "Welcome back to Nikki and I, I'm your host, Nikki Reardon." Thank you for coming into this emergency bonus episode about a very crazy scene going on in our world right now that really could impact the democracy. It will impact the entire media ecosystem. It is going to absolutely wreck and completely decimate the film industry in many, many ways. And while my conversation with Elizabeth Warren was really, really fascinating and she gives a lot of great detail as to how those things have worked historically. I quickly want to give a bit of context into the actual deal and acquisition itself because I haven't seen a lot of people actually explain what this money is being used for, how the $100 billion cash is raised, spoiler, it's very shady, and also just what the consequences of each buyer would be. Because it's not just A or B, the real problem here is corporate consolidation. Is these mega corporations monopolizing? And how the first and fourth biggest competitors in a category merging together is bad for everyone. For context, in 1983, there were roughly 50 companies that made up 90% of the US media market. In 2025, there are five companies that make up 90% of the US media market. Those companies are Paramount Skydance, Disney, Warner Brothers, Discovery, Comcast/NBCU, and Sony. That is also in addition to Netflix, which we'll talk about, which is the streaming part of that. But Netflix is actually bigger than all of those companies combined. More than twice the size. Like for example, Disney is worth roughly 190 billion. Netflix is valued at around 400 billion. So those companies, those five that I was talking about are the ones that own the most amount of media companies. So many things you would not even realize. Like sports, HGTV, the food network. So many cable television shows. Then we have CBS, CNN, the news. Like so many of these things are all under one massive conglomerate. Actually, there's only essentially five massive conglomerates, right? Then Netflix is the streaming, the biggest streamer, by a very wide margin, and makes most of its own IP. So it doesn't own, you know, like Netflix doesn't own something like a CNN or doesn't own a movie studio. Netflix is its own studio. It produces its own thing. So then of course, they license shows on the platform. But that's really where I want to get into the difference between these two bids. So there's a Netflix bid and a Paramount bid. So this idea of corporate consolidation is a trend that has been growing and rapidly growing since the 80s, right? And that is why there has been less amount of money and film and music and entertainment. It's why there are so many struggling actors. It's why there have been so many more strikes. You know, we had the recent writers and SAG Strike with the 2008 strike since then, because as these monopolies are forming and consolidating power, they are depressing wages of people and making the conditions of the industry worse for their own profit. And that's really why this deal is going to be so consequential because it will be by far the biggest version of that to ever happen. And that's why I also want to break down the consequences of both of these bids and explain them very differently. So both Netflix and Paramount have placed a bid on Warner. Netflix is for $82.7 billion. However, the very key difference is that Netflix is only offering to buy HBO, Warner Brothers, DC Studios, Harry Potter, and New Line Cinema. So none of the cable TV stuff, the big ones being CNN, Food Network, HGTV, MLB, Discovery, etc. Because Netflix is in the business of replacing cable. They don't really want any of those things. They don't care about those businesses. Their goal is to essentially make them obsolete. They want the rich IP, right? They want things like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones and all of that to put on their platform. In comparison, the Paramount bid is for $108 billion cash for everything. That is inclusive of news, specifically. That's actually one of the biggest reasons they want to buy it. They want to buy out CNN and things like that because Larry Ellison, the second richest man in the world, and coincidentally, best friends with Donald Trump, has suddenly taken a very big interest in buying out any sort of media company or new system that opposes their agenda. Very interesting, not at all coincidence, I'm sure. So their bid is an entirely cash offer, whereas Netflix is a combination of cash and stock, which is a very, very common way that corporations actually buy each other out. Very interesting thing about the Paramount bid is that Paramount is only worth $15 billion yet their bid for Warner Brothers is $108 billion. So how did they get this money? Well, of course, we have the CEO of Skydance Paramount, David Ellison, goes to his daddy, who happens to be second richest person on earth, Larry Ellison, who then also joins forces with Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, how crazy. But even that is not enough for $108 billion. So of course, they go to sovereign well funds, the Saudis, and Middle Eastern governments have contributed to this buyout, which is like the fucking legion of doom. Like why are you me? Like just putting all the supervillains of earth in one room together to buy out one of the last remaining institutions to buy out CNN, to buy out Warner Brothers. Like, it is insane. And I do think a very important hypocrisy to point out is wasn't the whole reason TikTok needed to be sold because it was controlled by a government entity, a foreign government entity. But now, Larry Ellison, and David Ellison, were the people who are about to buy TikTok, now wanna buy Warner Brothers with sovereign well fund money? The hypocrisy, like it is insane. And this is really, really where I want to talk about the consequences of these two bids, both of which terrible, but terrible in very, very different ways, right? What Netflix is trying to do essentially is monopolize the film industry. They are already the biggest streamer by far, the number one, they would be buying out the number four biggest streamer and also just some of the biggest IP ever made, right, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, the entire DC universe. So their goal is to do that and jack up the subscription, right? And also, kind of a big goal, there's also to stop the theatrical release process, right? They don't want people paying to see a movie in theaters. They want to essentially make theaters non-existent anymore so that people can only watch movies via streaming and then jack up the price again. Whereas Paramount's bid is actually more so focused on controlling the media to kind of be a tool of the Trump administration, right? Like if Paramount's acquisition got approved, they would own Paramount Studios, Warner Brothers Studios, CBS, CNN, DC Studios, Fandango, MTV, HBO, New Line Cinema, TNT Sports, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TBS, Oracle, Cartoon Network, HGTV, I think the Food Network, like, it goes on and on. It is literally, would be like, the entire point is to be a kind mouthpiece for the regime, right? It is all scout, cheer back if you scratch my back in the sense of like, you know, I'm going to make this very, very attempt to make this very, very should be a legal acquisition and the government's going to approve it on this sort of, you know, maybe CNN suddenly won't be as left leaning as it was previously. So it puts us in this weird position. I would say that, you know, the Netflix acquisition is much worse for the entertainment industry and the future of film and actors. but slightly better for democracy, whereas the Paramount one is really, really bad for democracy, but maybe slightly better for film and entertainment, not being as deeply consolidated. But it's important to acknowledge that neither is a good outcome. That is something I'm really, really scared people seeing that there's so much attention right now about this sort of Netflix acquisition that if somebody else acquires Warner Brothers, that's gonna be seen as a good thing when it's like, no, the problem is corporate consolidation in any way in any industry. That always hurts the consumer. It always makes things more expensive. It always makes people get paid less. We learn about this in history, right? But not please bad. They made a board game about it actually, right? That is what's happening. The first and fourth biggest thing emerging these over a hundred billion dollar companies each merging is not a good thing ever. And something else I asked Senator Warren about is how I'm really scared this is going to set a very dangerous precedent, right? Like, even if this is just, it starts as just an issue in the film industry or an issue with entertainment, what this really signals to every other mega corporation is like, you can merge with the biggest competitor. Number one, we'll approve it. Your number four, your number five, your number six, whatever, just let get bought out. Who cares? Make a monopoly, right? And if that starts happening with grocery stores, your electricity bill, your phone bill, right? Like, that is where these dominoes are going to fall, right? If everyone's gonna be like, well, we're a smaller company than Netflix, we're not four hundred billion dollars. Let's merge, let's merge. And suddenly, everything is monopolized, right? That is really why I think this could be a generational case because I think it is going to set the precedent for what other corporations feel they can do. And also, I really want to talk about, you know, a lot of how this is going to impact actors specifically and directors and filmmakers. And anyone who works for movies to do ever, if you work in marketing at an agency or whatever, like, you know, the consolidation of these things is bad for you. And that's really a lot of what Senator Warren and I talk about. So, without further ado, I want to kick it off to that. - Oh, was it with Warren? I could not be more honored and excited to have you on Nikki at night. Thank you so much for being willing to talk to me about this. - Oh, are you kidding? I'm delighted to be here with you. Let's talk movies and antitrust. - And it is the case of the week. And something that I really think is maybe going to be a case of our lifetimes, honestly. And I really want to start with talking about the whole antitrust legislation and monopolies as a whole. One, how do you think that this merger would impact actors and people actually working in the film industry? - Yeah, think of exactly the right question. So let's start, let's just back up a little bit and think about how any business works, right? There are the people who actually do the work in the movie industry, obviously. The people who pitch the scripts and do the makeup and move the movie sets around and drive the trucks, right? Those are the workers. They produce the product. There are the consumers. Those are the people like me who love to watch movies, right? I'm a consumer, right? Those are the ones who pay for it. And then the third group are the investors, right? So what's happening right now with these merger deals is that the investors are saying for one of the big ones, Netflix. They're saying, okay, we're the number one streamer in the world, we want to buy the number four streamer, Warner Brothers and merge it with us. So we will be the number one, one, one bigger than ever, streamer, and they're telling their investors, telling Wall Street, and we're going to make wheelbarrow loads of money. Now, this is the moment when you want to stop and put your hand on your wallet and say, how exactly they're planning to make more money. Is there anybody in America who thinks that if you have an even bigger corporation, they will make better movies. (laughing) No. They have more. Yeah, Nikki, they've got a plan. And here's the plan. Squeeze the workers who produce the product and as backup, squeeze the consumers who buy the product. And that's how you get more money back over the investors. So what is this going to mean if this merger occurs? There are fewer places to pitch your script. Fewer movies, whether or not movies get made is based on whether or not a smaller number of people say, yeah, I think that's one that you could make money on and give a good return on investment to investors. And that's going to echo through the entire industry. And a particular problem with Netflix, because Netflix is a streamer. That's their groove, okay. But they think that the time spent in a movie theater is time not spent at home streaming. Yeah, they want that money. Exactly. So, I think this is really scary for people who make movies. I think so too. It is one depressing the wages when there's less competition in options. And two, the entire idea of capitalism is built off of this idea of fair competition. Like, there is nothing less capitalism than one person owning 30% of all of the market. It's crazy, like, that is not how you as a consumer want them to bid over the best thing and fight for talent and have to pitch new innovative ideas. Like, you benefit from more options. That's how the graduate gets made. No, I'm serious. When there was a time that nobody thought that was the right kind of movie. And Dustin Hoffman playing somebody who was, you know, 21 years old, I don't think so. Right. But it worked because somebody pitched it and out of all the people they tried to sell it to, one said, I'll take it, I'll buy it. The movie industry is the best example of this, but understand, Nicky, I know you know this. Any trust laws have been here for more than 100 years, because the same principle is true. If you're talking about the aluminum industry, any industry, whether you're trying to make steel, whatever it is you're trying to make, the whole idea is that more competition, more players in the industry to say, I think that's a good idea, is what gives you innovation. And what we've studied is that when you see this kind of consolidation, when you see one outfit, one decision maker, running 30% of an entire industry, wages go down. But more to the point, innovation goes down, because they get better at protecting their monopoly, than they are at trying out that new idea. And there's no incentive to try out the new idea anymore. Like, that's the whole point. It's like, you should want this differing of opinions and ideas. Like, it's a good thing that, you know, stranger things is on Netflix and Game of Thrones on HBO, because we made three more seasons of Game of Thrones because of them, right? Like, quite a lot of us, for those of us who are big, what exactly are you talking about? Exactly, exactly, like, our girl Jennifer Coolidge is trying to get those seasons made, I don't know. Yeah, exactly right. And I would say, look, I really believe in competition lots, why we have these anti-trust laws. But nowhere is that more important than in the movies. Yeah. Nowhere is it more important, because this is where-- this is where the people with real talent tell our stories back to us. This is where they tell us about what it means, about sexuality, about immigration, about growing up, about growing old, about failing, about being reborn. They tell us our stories. They are our national storytellers. To concentrate that with one corporate Yahoo, are you kidding me? That does not make it a better world. We need more studios, not viewers, more studios, not viewers. And something, I'm a very big believer in the power of media to genuinely change people's hearts and minds. Something I quote of this show is that art shapes culture, culture shapes people, and people shape the world. And so much of the influence of-- as a person comes from the art and culture that you consume, and you can't look at that first domino, and not expect it to knock over the entire train. You know what I mean? And this is something I really wanted to talk to you about specifically, too, is like a big concern of mine with this merger is that it doesn't end here. This doesn't just become a case about entertainment monopolies. It becomes, oh, the Trump admin is willing to bend the knee to megacorporations. And now we get the first and fourth biggest grocery store emerging, the fashion house is merging. We just enter an era of corporate consolidation. It's like, well, Netflix and HBO can do it. Why don't I do it? Is not a very real fear that you have? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Because as soon as the big boys see that they can grow by merging, and here's another one. Is there a CEO of a giant corporation on Earth that doesn't want to be a CEO of an even bigger giant corporation? And have his, and they must wear his paycheck, based on that bigger CEO-ness that they are trying to run, that every one of them is looking left looking right and saying, "Not how can I grow by coming up with better customer service? Not how can I grow by coming up with an innovative new product? How can I grow by trying to expand into a new area?" Nope. It's how can I grow by buying up my competition and not having to compete with them and being afraid that those guys are going to come up with better customer service-innovative new products and working into new areas. You can cut off that competition and be bigger all at once. That's not to love except that it's illegal. Exactly. And this is again, circling back to what I said earlier, like you cannot say you are pro-capitalism in business while also saying that you are pro-consolidation. Yep. They are, it is impossible. It is. It is the root of how those things are friction against each other and that's, when people are reviewing this case and you know like thinking about their own beliefs, that is something I've really been trying to drill into people of like you cannot think that there aren't consequences to this thing and when you study how you know great innovation in fair markets operate, the root of it is all of them innovating to beat each other. That's right. That is supposed to be the beauty of markets and what markets bring you. They bring you ever better products at ever lower prices. That is basically the idea behind it and as I mentioned earlier, what we've come to discover is it's not just good for the consumer when you have that kind of competition. It's good for workers. Workers are paid more when there are more folks out there competing. One of the problems with the mergers for example on these grocery stores is that as soon as it happens the wages for people who work in grocery stores go down. There was recently a case where random house was trying to buy another publisher and what the court said is wait a minute what's going to happen is authors are just going to have fewer places to be able to sell their books and that's going to mean lower payment to those authors as well as some books that will just never get published and they said no on the market. That's what's going to happen with writers rooms, that's what's going to happen with directors, it's going to happen to actors, producers, the EOSers, site designers, like there's just entire ripple effect of all of the things that these people employ renting a place in Utah to shoot the movie or whatever, like it impacts the entire way that the industry operates in moves and the person who gets after over is the American citizen is the person paying for the service or not getting paid if they're raised to be in the vein. Yeah, you know, and there's a particular problem, we talked about the, here the Netflix trying to buy Warner Brothers, but there's also a problem with Paramount trying to do this in particular. So this is not Paramount's first rodeo app. So remember just a few months ago Paramount is looking over about merger with Skydance and there were a lot of folks saying wrong, bad idea and Paramount does what? They settle a bogus lawsuit with Donald Trump for $16 million dollars, nice. And then when Stephen Colbert refers to that as quote a big fat bribe, Stephen Colbert gets the axe, right? And then Donald Trump's administration approves the merger. The administration of free speech, I'll add to you. Yes. So we're coming back for the second round here and listening in case anybody missed it, what, what Ellison, the head of Paramount Skydance now, said is one reason that his bid should be accepted by the shareholders of Warner Brothers is because they have a smoother path for getting the approval of the merger. He already, is he saying he already knows what parts of Donald Trump you need to kiss to be able to get this thing through or what exactly what is it, what is it that a president wants to be able to approve this and, and let me say on this, never before that I know of in our history has an American president said on any merger that's being proposed that it somehow he plans to be in the middle of the bill, X-Nay, you know, look, always before it's been about you apply the law to the facts, you just what are the facts, here's the law and supposed to be an independent evaluation of what's going on and it seems that Donald Trump wants to use his own ideas for what makes for an attractive merger here, but that's not the way it's supposed to work, it's supposed to be follow the law because it works both for the workers and that's what works for the consumers, so let's stay together, let's make a difference. So that's where we are, it is a really terrifying thing happening, and again, to look at this as only an issue that will impact entertainment in film is just blatantly wrong, it is the precedent that will be set for the mega corporation consolidation of everything that is where this could take us, right, it is the dominoes falling, if a $400 billion company can merge with a $200 billion company, you think somebody that's a tenth of the size of that isn't going to do that, and then suddenly everything we have is consolidated, even deeper than already is 5%, 5 companies control a 90% of the media ecosystem, that is insane. So thank you so much for watching this, I really hope it was helpful or illuminating and explanatory in some way of how these criminopolis function, it was really an amazing, honestly, crazy thing that I had the chance to do this, I am in shock, but very honored and appreciated to be able to use this to talk to somebody in Congress who is actively trying to oppose this, and it makes me proud to use this space in this show to be able to do that as someone who talks about entertainment business a lot. So please share the episode, like it, comment on it, if there's anything we ever want to reach people from this show, it is really this, it is so consequential that I need people to understand, I need people moderates and people on the right to understand, you can be the most pro-capitalism, most far right person ever, and acknowledge that this is wrong, acknowledge that the biggest and fourth biggest competitors of a category merging together is not, is monopoly, it's just a monopoly, we've all played the game before, right? So thank you so much, don't forget to like and subscribe and all that, I appreciate you for being here and I'll see y'all next week, bye.