Netflix chief defies Trump demand to fire Susan Rice from board

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has rebuffed a demand from President Donald Trump to terminate board member Susan Rice, the former National Security Advisor to Barack Obama, signaling a deepening rift between the White House and the streaming giant as it navigates a contentious $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery assets.

In a weekend post on Truth Social, President Trump labeled Rice a “political hack” and warned Netflix to remove her from its governing body or “pay the consequences.” The president’s intervention followed a social media post by right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, who characterized Netflix as “anti-American” and urged the administration to block the high-stakes merger.

Rice, who served as a director at Netflix from 2018 to 2020 before joining the Biden administration, returned to the company’s board in 2023. She currently sits on the nominating and governance committee.

Addressing the ultimatum during an interview with Amol Rajan on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Sarandos dismissed the political pressure. “This is a business deal. It’s not a political deal,” Sarandos said, adding of the president: “He likes to do a lot of things on social media.”

The president’s latest rhetoric marks a sharp pivot in his stance on the merger, which would consolidate some of Hollywood’s most storied assets under the Netflix banner. While Trump indicated in December that he would be personally “involved” in the review process, he appeared to backtrack earlier this month, telling NBC News he would not engage in a “bidding war” and would leave the matter to the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ is currently conducting a formal antitrust investigation into the proposed takeover. Regulators are weighing whether the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and television studios, alongside HBO and HBO Max, would grant Netflix monopolistic power.

The deal faces a formidable challenge from Paramount Skydance, an entity controlled by the Ellison family, which has ties to the president. Paramount has submitted a $108.4 billion counter-proposal for the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery, challenging Netflix’s $83 billion offer for the company’s studio and streaming divisions.

Sarandos has sought to bypass political static through direct engagement, reportedly meeting with the president in November to outline the economic benefits of the deal.

“We are buying assets that we don’t currently have,” Sarandos told the BBC. “We’re buying a movie studio and a distribution entity. We’ll be adding to the market.”

He further argued that a rival takeover by Paramount would be more detrimental to the industry’s health, characterizing it as a “horizontal” merger that would inevitably lead to contraction.

“There are five major studios left in Hollywood. If the Paramount deal goes through, that number drops to four,” Sarandos cautioned. “This industry will become much smaller under that ownership than it would under Netflix ownership.”