Trump and Netflix Boss Sarandos Set for High-Stakes Mar-a-Lago Meeting

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to meet Netflix Inc NFLX co-CEO Ted Sarandos on Tuesday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, Reuters cites familiar sources.

Reuters, citing researcher OpenSecrets said Sarandos has traditionally backed Democratic Party candidates by donating to support them.

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Let us examine the dynamics between the streaming giant and the U.S. government. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings had committed a record $7 million to a super PAC backing Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

Hastings’ contribution marks his largest single donation to a candidate. Although initially hesitant to endorse Harris following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal. This pledge followed Harris’ impressive fundraising momentum.

In July, Netflix reportedly experienced a sharp rise in subscription cancellations after Hastings declared his support for Harris.

Tesla Inc TSLA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk drew attention to the news, pointing to claims of political donation bias among Netflix employees. Bloomberg columnist Lucas Shaw, citing research firm Antenna, reported that Netflix’s U.S. cancellation rate nearly tripled after Hastings publicly endorsed Harris.

In 2022, three Democratic senators urged Netflix to reduce smoking and vaping depictions in its streaming content.

Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote to Netflix co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, requesting fewer scenes featuring smoking and vaping in shows and films.

The senators referenced a Truth Initiative report, which found that Netflix’s content—popular among young audiences—has shown more smoking or vaping scenes than any other channel over the past four years.

Shows like The Queen’s Gambit and The Umbrella Academy were cited for having over 200 instances of smoking or vaping in their respective 2020 seasons.

Last week, Trump shared plans to meet with Amazon.com Inc AMZN founder Jeff Bezos.

Netflix stock surged 96% year-to-date, backed by its diverse content and live events, including the highly expected NFL Christmas Day games. Oppenheimer’s Jason Helfstein hailed Netflix as the sole investable mainstream media stock. The analyst flagged a $2.2 billion advertising opportunity annually for live events.

Price Action: NFLX stock traded lower by 0.11% to $920.04 premarket at the last check on Tuesday.

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