{"id":14232,"date":"2025-12-21T15:02:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T07:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14232"},"modified":"2025-12-21T15:03:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T07:03:01","slug":"trump-world-is-picking-sides-in-the-battle-for-warner-bros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14232","title":{"rendered":"Trump world is picking sides in the battle for Warner Bros."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Trump World Is Picking Sides in the Battle for Warner Bros.\u00a9\u00a0cam pollack\/WSJ; iStock, EPA\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON\u2014Some of the most influential people in President Trump\u2019s orbit, past and present, are facing off in\u00a0the unfolding drama<\/a>\u00a0over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix, which wants to buy Warner\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among new participants in the merger fight are Kellyanne Conway, Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign manager and former White House senior counselor, and Tony Fabrizio, the president\u2019s 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\u2019s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a look at the key players in the fight for Warner Bros.:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kellyanne Conway<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Netflix hired Conway\u2019s 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\u2019s firm and a Trump White House and 2016 campaign alum, is also working on Netflix\u2019s behalf, the people said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Ballard<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s firm and whose Justice Department will oversee the merger\u2019s antitrust review. Ballard\u2019s firm also represents the Motion Picture Association, which will have a huge stake in the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May Mailman<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clete Willems<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In Trump\u2019s 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\u2019s chief global affairs officer, reporting to co-CEO Ted Sarandos. A former partner with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Willems\u2019s LinkedIn profile features photos from a recent Netflix gathering in Washington with congressional lawmakers, including Rep. Buddy Carter (R., Ga.), and Sen. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D., N.M.), to celebrate the fifth season of the Netflix show \u201cStranger Things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virginia Moore<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s Washington, D.C., office, according to her LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Miller<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s bid on behalf of an undisclosed Paramount investor. His social-media channels have sought to amplify Paramount\u2019s case against the Netflix merger, including a Semafor interview with Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who said Netflix\u2019s acquisition of Warner raises \u201cabout seven different red flags.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makan Delrahim<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s antitrust division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris LaCivita<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The veteran Republican strategist was one of the architects of Trump\u2019s 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\u2019s Nippon Steel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Fabrizio<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s election-focused public polling along with Democratic firm Impact Research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON\u2014Some of the most influential people in President Trump\u2019s orbit, past and present, are facing off in\u00a0the unfolding drama\u00a0over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix, which wants to buy Warner\u2019s 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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":14233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3849,1724,3848],"class_list":["post-14232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-bros","tag-trump","tag-warner"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump world is picking sides in the battle for Warner Bros. - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14232\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump world is picking sides in the battle for Warner Bros. - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON\u2014Some of the most influential people in President Trump\u2019s orbit, past and present, are facing off in\u00a0the unfolding drama\u00a0over the future of Warner Bros. 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