Warner Bros.' Sale Should Be a Gut-Check Moment for Regulators
Warner Bros. Discovery announced this month that it is officially putting itself up for sale after receiving "unsolicited interest" from "multiple parties." Not surprisingly, the potential buyers rumored to be in the mix read like a who's-who list of Big Tech: Amazon, Apple, Netflix and even Google.
Ordinary consumers, and certainly regulators, should be alarmed by the prospects of such an influential media powerhouse falling into the hands of the tech oligarchs.
For years major tech companies have flexed their size and resources to stifle competition and consolidate greater control over Americans — from what we buy, to what we see, to how we live our day-to-day lives.
These monopolies are not interested in the consumers' welfare. They know that controlling speech — the news and entertainment we consume — is pivotal to eliminating competition and promoting their political agenda.
In Congress, I worked to rein in tech giants' anticompetitive practices. Not because making a profit is bad, but because crowding out competitors and manipulating markets hurts consumers.
It impairs our ability to make objective and informed decisions, hampers innovation and prevents new products from entering the marketplace, and weaponizes our own data against us.
These companies' playbook is well rehearsed. They crush their competition, and then they crush free speech. There are glaring examples, like Twitter's censorship of conservative leaders and outlets ahead of the 2020 election.
Then there are more insidious tactics, like platforms' content manipulation to push political and social ideologies on audiences.
Amazon, for example, removed documentaries about Clarence Thomas and the death of Michael Brown — narratives that didn't fit the left's agenda.
With some 200 million subscribers, Amazon is already the largest streamer in the U.S. An acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery's assets — which include HBO Max, CNN and the right to broadcast a number of live sports — would further cement its pole position, making it about 50% bigger than the next-closest competitor.
Already, Amazon's market clout has earned scrutiny from both sides of the political aisle. During President Donald Trump's first term, his administration put Amazon on watch.
Then, in 2023, 17 state attorneys general joined the Federal Trade Commission to sue Amazon for "maintaining monopoly power," which it used to "inflate prices, degrade quality, and stifle innovation."
While that lawsuit is still in limbo, the Trump-Vance administration recently struck a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon over its "deceptive" tactics to enroll users in Prime memberships.
Juxtaposed against these necessary actions, Amazon's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery will warrant regulatory scrutiny.
It's hard to believe the world's largest retailer and digital platform has suddenly changed its ways, and an acquisition of a leading media company would only give it more latitude to take advantage of customers.
Competition is the great antidote to Big Tech's vast control.
But this cartel is not interested in welcoming new entrants to the market.
It actively works to elbow them out, and if it can't block them, the next best thing is to buy them. So it's no wonder that the tech behemoths are salivating at the potential to scoop up Warner Bros. Discovery — either in whole or, more likely, in pieces.
The Trump administration isn't afraid to employ antitrust law to confront bad actors that drive "ideas out of the marketplace," as the new FTC chairman said. Big Tech sure meets that criteria.
As one analyst put it, "Apple, Amazon, and almost certainly Comcast would likely confront 'transactional' friction from the current Administration." I would add Netflix and Google to that list.
Americans should hope that regulators will step in to pause and carefully examine any of the usual tech suspects from using their deep pockets to tighten their control over the media. Warner Bros.
Discovery already has an offer that would keep the company intact and further establish it as a real competitor, able to go head-to-head with the tech giants.
No doubt, Big Tech will marshal their resources to fight authorities — as they have before — but regulators can, and should, use this moment to carefully examine mergers in the entertainment industry that will have an impact on free speech.
Ken Buck graduated from Princeton University in 1981 and the University of Wyoming Law School in 1985. He's worked for then Rep. Dick Cheney, R-Wyo., on the Iran-Contra Investigation; then became a prosecutor with the U.S. DOJ. In 1990, Ken joined the Colorado U.S. Atty’s. Office. Rep. Buck began his political career by being elected district attorney three times in Colorado (2004, 2008, 2012). In 2014, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Colorado's 4th Congressional Dist. Since leaving Congress in 2024, he has been a consultant focusing on political strategy for business development and public affairs. Read more of Ken Buck's reports — here.