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| Seth Bloom |
Netflix has retained Bloom Strategic Counsel for regulatory matters regarding its proposed $83B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Seth Bloom spent nearly 14 years on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, where he reviewed deals such as the AOL/Time merger, Comcast’s bid for NBCUniversal, and the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile deal.
His firm has represented JetBlue with respect to its proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines; Uber with respect to its acquisition of Postmates; Amazon in connection with its merger with Whole Foods; and MillerCoors LLC in connection with the AB InBev/SABMiller merger.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos faced tough questions at the antitrust hearings on Feb. 3.
Senator Mike Lee, the Utah Republican who chairs the panel said “one might say that Netflix seeks to become the one platform to rule them all, or at least to exercise a significant amount of market dominance.”
Paramount Skydance is waging a campaign to block the Netflix deal.
Jersey Senator Cory Booker extended an invitation to Paramount chief David Ellison to testify at the hearing.
Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat, called Paramount's absence from the hearing "frustrating," and said David Ellison had declined his invitation to testify.
"With either merger, another corporation will have that increased control over what we see, what we hear and what news we consume," Booker said.
Ballard Partners has signed to a represent the US unit of Rheinmetall, Germany’s biggest defense contractor, on Army procurement issues.
BGR Group signs on to provide lobbying and PR services for Terzo, an AI financial intelligence platform. Douglas Lute, chair of BGR’s international and defense practices, will join Terzo’s board of directors.
Avoq has landed Palantir Technologies, the controversial surveillance company founded by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, as a client.
Anne Kierig, who was senior manager of public policy at Amazon, has joined the American Advertising Federation as VP-government affairs. She takes over for Clark Rector, who is retiring after a 37-year run at AAF.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was established in compliance with the executive order signed by President Trump, has hired Valcour LLC, which has close ties with his administration.
