Trump allies claim victory as the Ellisons expand their media empire

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Hours after Netflix sent shock waves through the media and entertainment world by withdrawing its $83 billion bid for most of Warner Bros. Discovery, Laura Loomer celebrated on X in all-caps: “VICTORY.”

The far-right influencer, who has called herself President Donald Trump’s “loyalty enforcer,” had spent months denouncing Netflix over its ties to former president Barack Obama and urging Trump to “kill” the megamerger that she said would have given the streaming giant control over CNN, HBO and more. (Netflix’s bid ended up not including those properties.) Netflix’s withdrawal Thursday evening cleared the way for David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance to instead take the reins of the cable network, whose coverage the president has labeled “fake news.”

Paramount’s triumph in a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery is a game-changing business move - one that will add HBO, the DC Comics universe, the Harry Potter and Star Trek franchises, and a slew of other TV channels and movie studios to a vast father-and-son empire that already includes Oracle, Paramount Pictures, CBS News and a chunk of the new American TikTok. In an email sent to staff on Friday, and obtained by The Washington Post, Ellison said the “historic” merger would create “the next-generation global media and entertainment company.”

Among power players in politics and media, Paramount’s swoop is also widely viewed as a win for the right amid a broader push to rein in what many conservatives view as a liberal slant in the media and entertainment industries. And in Washington, questions have swirled as to what role was played by a president who famously relishes dealmaking.

As recently as Thursday morning, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos appeared at the White House amid reports that he would meet with Trump personally as he sought to save a deal the Silicon Valley streaming giant first struck with Warner Bros. in December. But things unraveled quickly from there.

A senior White House official told The Post on Friday that Trump never met with Sarandos. Two other people familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said Sarandos was set to meet instead with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, but that fell through, too, though he did ultimately sit down with Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Soon after, Warner Bros. announced that it had deemed Paramount’s rival bid a “superior proposal.” By that evening, Netflix had withdrawn its bid, and on Friday, Paramount inked its deal to buy Warner Bros. for $110 billion.