Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was spotted having a conspicuous lunch with the head of Paramount’s new crown jewel: HBO, according to a report by Page Six that was confirmed by representatives of both companies.
HBO chief Casey Bloys, who masterminded the streamer’s decade-long string of success—including Succession, The White Lotus, and The Pitt—sat down for lunch with his new company’s purported enemy in the Hollywood restaurant Superba.
It would appear as though Bloys, 54, whose contract with the streamer ends in 2027, may be unwilling to wait out the Paramount deal’s regulatory approval process. And HBO’s new nepo baby owner, David Ellison, may have given his competitor the funds to poach its most valuable asset.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives from Netflix, HBO, and Paramount for comment.
While the contents of the conversation are unknown, the fact that it occurred at all threatens to be disastrous for Paramount-Skydance CEO, Ellison, 43. The MAGA-coded executive leveraged his—and his centibillionaire father, Larry Ellison’s—relationship with President Donald Trump to secure a $111 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery, greatly outbidding Netflix.
Ellison’s bid included a $2.8 billion fee given to Netflix for breaking up its already agreed-upon deal with Warner Bros.
It could be the most expensive self-sabotage in Hollywood history.
“David Ellison has a bro company, and that’s not Casey at all,” an industry source familiar with the Paramount-Skydance dynamic told Page Six. “He’s not a high-fiving bro watching MMA fights.”
According to the source, the chosen lunch spot is a frequent watering hole for Sarandos, 61, who likely expects news of the conversation to reach Ellison quickly. It is a returning shot from the Netflix CEO after Paramount poached the creators of one of its biggest assets, Stranger Things, in an exclusive four-year deal last summer.
While Paramount+ has largely floundered since Ellison took over last summer, HBO has soared, earning 142 Emmy nominations last year, the most of any competitor (the overall record of 160 is held by Netflix). Its massive library of award-winning dramas like Euphoria and The Last of Us, and attention-grabbing hits like House of the Dragon and Hacks, make it a coveted asset in Hollywood.
Earlier this month, Ellison laid out his plans for the future of streaming under his new deal. HBO Max and Paramount+ will merge into a single streamer, though Ellison said on an investor call that HBO will “operate with independence” as a brand.
Ellison is also expected to use the deal to MAGA-fy CNN, as he did with his purchase of CBS, which has seen internal turmoil, a decline in viewership, and a shift towards the right.
Paramount may have won the fight for HBO, but Netflix believes they have not yet won the war.
