Liberty Media's John Malone: Amazon Could Overtake Netflix

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN is a "death star" capable of dominating any industry," according to one media titan. 

The Expert

Liberty Media Corporation - Series A Liberty Formula One FWONA's chairman and media tycoon John Malone.

The Thesis

Amazon's end game is simple: the company can compete with any B2C enterprise that sells "anything to any consumer anywhere on the planet," Malone told CNBC's David Faber in an interview. It may be impossible to compete with a behemoth that has become an expert in using its scale to serve the public, Malone said. 

Malone, one of the best deal makers of all time in the media and cable sector, said Amazon is the lone company in existence that can compete with Netflix, Inc. NFLX over time. Netflix is the market leader in online video not only because of its size and subscriber base, but because it was the first to rival the studio industry by "going directly to the talent," he said. 

The most important factor in the media industry is scale, which implies Amazon is the "only outfit right now that has a chance of overtaking" Netflix, Malone said. 

"Netflix was the first wave," Malone said. "And I think Jeff [Bezos] is gonna be the most disruptive. As [his] Death Star moves into striking range of every industry on the planet."

Price Action

Shares of Amazon were trading higher by nearly 1 percent Thursday afternoon while Netflix's stock gained nearly 3 percent.

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Photo courtesy of Amazon.