Emily Flippen

We haven't had a big litmus test like this for the Trump administration.

So it'll be really interesting to see where regulators fall on this.

But if I'm Netflix, what I'm doing is arguing that a combined Netflix and HBO Max subscription

all under the Netflix umbrella here, would be cheaper to the consumer than paying for two separate streaming services.

Maybe prices go up in general, but I would make the argument that one subscription combining both of these entertainment assets would be cheaper than two.

Of course, we haven't seen Netflix actually signaling this, but I can imagine if

regulators start to dig into the deal, this is the argument Netflix is likely to make.

But Jason, I mean, given the history we've discussed here, when you think about these industry-changing deals, is there any specific warning signs that make you think that Netflix could be the next AOL Time Warner versus the green flags that say this might be closer to a Disney-Fox situation?

It's nice to hear a more positive take, although I will say history does show that mega mergers generally don't live up to the hype, but there are always exceptions to the rules.

Up next, we'll be stepping away from Netflix and Warner Brothers specifically to talk about how you can judge big acquisitions anywhere in your portfolio using this deal as a live case study.

Welcome back to Motley Fool Money.

To wrap up today's show, I want to zoom out and look at mega mergers in general and how investors can think about them within their own portfolios.

As we mentioned, generally, M&A doesn't generally live up to the hype that is cultivated when deals are announced.

And I very often consider the reason why mergers fail is just because they don't have a clear why about why they wanted to merge in the first place.

Jason, when a company in your portfolio announces a deal like this, what's the first question you ask yourself to start evaluating if it's a good decision or not?

Dan, anything you want to add to Jason's checklist or potentially take off?

It makes sense to me.

I guess it'll be interesting to see.

Time will tell if Netflix bid for Warner ultimately ends up landing shareholders in deep water of both companies.

But I think having a clear idea to evaluate deals for yourself as opposed to just taking management's word for it is really key to managing your own portfolio.