At the beginning of the 20th century, to protect the American people and their growing prosperity, President Teddy Roosevelt took on some of the most powerful individuals and potent economic combines, earning his status as the legendary “trustbuster.”
In this third decade of the 21st century, having already shown a willingness to take on powerful international economic interests on tariffs, President Donald Trump now faces his own trustbusting moment. By stopping the proposed Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD) merger, he will have exercised his duty to protect American prosperity and, more importantly, liberty.
President Trump’s task is more easily achievable than Roosevelt’s was. Rather than razing an existing trust, Trump merely needs to prevent this one from being formed. That said, given the economic and political interests at stake in this $72 billion megadeal, it will be a daunting task to prevent Netflix from becoming Net-Trust.
It is hard to perceive the Netflix acquisition of WBD as anything other than the formation of a trust. In opposing the merger, Breitbart’s John Nolte laid bare the economic dangers:
Netflix currently boasts 301.6 million worldwide subscribers. HBO Max has 128 million worldwide subscribers. Once the merger happens, Netflix is looking at about 430 million subscribers… Even if Netflix charged only $1 a month, that would still add up to nearly $5.2 billion in revenue per year. But the average customer probably pays closer to $12 per month, so now we’re talking about something closer to $60 billion per year.
No one can compete with that.
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