Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos arrives for meetings at the White House in Washington, Feb. 26, 2026.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos visited the White House Thursday afternoon for a meeting on his company’s effort to buy part of Warner Bros. Discovery — shortly before Netflix announced it would terminate the deal.
Sarandos had not been expected to meet with President Donald Trump, who days ago demanded that Netflix boot former Obama administration official Susan Rice from its board of directors “or pay the consequences.”
Trump’s threat had cited a call by right-wing influencer Laura Loomer to “kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now.”
Loomer had pointed to Rice’s comments predicting that institutions that appease Trump will be held “accountable” when Democrats regain power.
“This meeting is not with POTUS,” a White House official told CNBC. “Netflix is meeting with staff members at the White House,” the official said.
After Sarandos arrived at the White House, WBD issued a statement saying that Paramount Skydance‘s new bid to buy all of the company appeared to be a “superior proposal,” to that of Netflix’s offer.
Under the terms of an agreement with WBD, Netflix had four business days to improve its bid.
But after Sarandos left the White House, Netflix issued a statement pulling the cord on the deal altogether.
“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix said.
“However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”
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