WASHINGTON—Some of the most influential people in President Trump’s orbit, past and present, are facing off in the unfolding drama over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix, which wants to buy Warner’s studios and HBO Max streaming business, is in a multibillion-dollar game of tug of war with Paramount, which wants to buy the entire company.
Among new participants in the merger fight are Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager and former White House senior counselor, and Tony Fabrizio, the president’s chief pollster. Affinity Partners, the private-equity firm of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, said this week it would no longer participate in Paramount’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
Here’s a look at the key players in the fight for Warner Bros.:
Kellyanne Conway
Netflix hired Conway’s firm, KAConsulting LLC, in recent weeks, and Conway has been advising the streaming giant on the merger as it pursues the $72 billion deal, according to people familiar with the discussions. Conway, a top former White House adviser to Trump and a veteran Republican pollster, will provide strategic consulting and market research for the company, the people said. Tom Joannou, a vice president at Conway’s firm and a Trump White House and 2016 campaign alum, is also working on Netflix’s behalf, the people said.
Brian Ballard
The longtime Florida Republican megalobbyist and his firm have been advising Netflix and will work with the company as it goes through the regulatory approval process, according to people familiar with the situation. The firm has extensive ties throughout the media industry: It represented Paramount and worked with the company during its merger with Skydance, and also worked with Comcast, which made an unsuccessful bid for Warner’s studios and HBO Max streaming service. Ballard maintains close ties to many top Trump officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, who previously worked for Ballard’s firm and whose Justice Department will oversee the merger’s antitrust review. Ballard’s firm also represents the Motion Picture Association, which will have a huge stake in the outcome.
May Mailman
A former senior adviser for special projects and top policy aide at the White House, Mailman worked closely with deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on the administration’s complex negotiations with higher-education institutions over federal funding. Mailman is a veteran of both Trump administrations and recently began assisting Netflix with the merger, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Clete Willems
In Trump’s first term, Willems served as deputy director of the National Economic Council and as a White House adviser on trade and international economics. Netflix said in April that Willems would serve as the streaming giant’s chief global affairs officer, reporting to co-CEO Ted Sarandos. A former partner with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Willems’s LinkedIn profile features photos from a recent Netflix gathering in Washington with congressional lawmakers, including Rep. Buddy Carter (R., Ga.), and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D., N.M.), to celebrate the fifth season of the Netflix show “Stranger Things.”
Virginia Moore
A recent hire by Netflix to handle direct U.S. federal affairs, Moore is a Capitol Hill veteran and served in White House legislative affairs and at the National Security Council during Trump’s first term. Moore, a former aide to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), spent much of 2020 in the Commerce Department as deputy director of policy and strategic planning and then moved into tech, working in Amazon’s Washington, D.C., office, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Jason Miller
A longtime Trump campaign aide, Miller was a sought-after commodity in the Netflix-Paramount drama: Both media giants approached him about working on the merger, according to a person familiar with the situation. As Paramount has pursued a $77.9 billion all-cash offer of Warner Bros. Discovery, Miller has provided communications advice in support of Paramount’s bid on behalf of an undisclosed Paramount investor. His social-media channels have sought to amplify Paramount’s case against the Netflix merger, including a Semafor interview with Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who said Netflix’s acquisition of Warner raises “about seven different red flags.”
Makan Delrahim
Delrahim was a major hire by Paramount this fall when the studio tapped the former Trump Justice Department antitrust head to lead all legal, regulatory, compliance and public policy issues for the company. Since then, he has worked closely with Paramount CEO David Ellison as the company pursues Warner Bros. Delrahim, Paramount’s chief legal officer, worked previously at Latham & Watkins, the powerhouse law firm where he provided counsel to Skydance Media during its acquisition of Paramount. A veteran of the Justice Department during the Bush administration, Delrahim joined the Trump administration as a deputy White House counsel in 2017 and then returned to the DOJ as an assistant attorney general leading the department’s antitrust division.
Chris LaCivita
The veteran Republican strategist was one of the architects of Trump’s 2024 campaign comeback and remains a top adviser to the president outside the White House. LaCivita is providing general strategic and messaging counsel for Warner Bros. Discovery, according to people familiar with the situation. He has played similar roles in the past, helping U.S. Steel executives as they negotiated with the administration to close their deal with Japan’s Nippon Steel.
Tony Fabrizio
The longtime Republican pollster has been a top adviser to Trump during the past decade and has frequently partnered with LaCivita on consulting projects. Fabrizio has helped elect a number of Republican senators including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), and has worked for several Fortune 500 companies including Visa, Bank of America and Google. He previously conducted The Wall Street Journal’s election-focused public polling along with Democratic firm Impact Research.
