Ted Sarandos

Is it the broader entertainment complex that could also include things like short form videos on YouTube and TikTok and any number of things?

Is it the going to the movie theaters and the kind of production side of things?

So this is something that's certainly going to come up in the debate over this potential transaction, not only here in the U.S., but also internationally where it could face scrutiny as well under a different standard, one that might be less focused on consumers and more focused on competitors, really raising questions of would the consumers lose out if a transaction is blocked because it would harm competitors, I mean,

Not because the consumers are harmed, but because it might make competition more difficult.

Well, I think when it comes to the actual transaction where we're more likely to see scrutiny are places like Europe and South Korea.

We've seen other acquisitions by American tech companies be scrutinized over there.

I'm thinking about things like the Microsoft Activision transaction.

We certainly saw scrutiny from abroad focused on the potential impact, not on consumers, but on competitors.

And when I say the impact on competitors, I don't mean any kind of anti-competitive behavior.

I mean that this would make competitors potentially have to raise their level of competition, something that we should want in the market, because raising the level of competition, raising that standard benefits consumers.

And so that's really what we should ideally be focusing on.

This is going to be interesting to watch, because in some ways this is going to be the first time the new merger guidelines, the revised merger guidelines, have really come up, particularly in the tech sector in the U.S.

So it'll certainly be something to watch in terms of not only how do we see this play out with these revised merger guidelines here in the U.S., as well as what challenges do we see from abroad, and are we able to maintain that focus on the consumers and on the way that this transaction could potentially benefit them.

That is your legacy, Paul, and we speak to those in-house experts every day.

We've already made progress towards securing the necessary regulatory approvals.

We submitted our HSR filing.

We're working closely with WBD and the regulatory authorities, including the U.S.

Department of Justice and the European Commissions.

We're confident we're going to be able to secure all the approvals because this deal is pro-consumer.

It is pro-innovation.