Simply extraordinary stuff coming out this morning about the battle over what used to be Warner Brothers Discovery (which includes CNN in addition to the more lucrative media stuff). The company had agreed to be acquired by Netflix. Thus Paramount – now the vehicle of the Ellison Family succession and Trump State Media entity-in-the-making – has launched a hostile takeover effort to swoop in and gobble up WBD for itself. In its public pitch it has openly advertised to shareholders that it is the better acquirer because the Ellisons are tight with Trump and the White House will never let a Netflix deal go through. Trump in comments yesterday as much as agreed. Trump has refashioned antitrust oversight to little more than a personal veto for the Trump family. Friends can do mergers; foes can’t. When you ask why so much of corporate America is beholden to Trump now this is why. A big diversified corporation simply cannot compete and thus, in practice, can’t exist with a determinedly hostile administration.
