While many of us grapple with and fear the impact of Trump’s second term, the exact guys you’d expect to be fine are doing just fine. David Zaslav, for one, chose not to publicly endorse either candidate in the leadup to the election, instead throwing his support behind whoever would give him a better “opportunity for deregulation, so companies can consolidate and do what we need to” (a.k.a. let him get even richer with zero consequences). Well, now we have our answer, and it’s—surprise surprise—the guy who belongs to the party that isn’t currently cracking down on equally reprehensible monopolies like Live Nation-Ticketmaster.
You know that TikTok trend where people say all their dog’s favorite words on a pretend phone call? This is the opposite of that. To really feel the full weight of all this gibberish, it’s best to just hear it from Zaslav himself. Here’s a portion of his comments during WBD’s quarterly earnings call today, via Deadline, in full:
We have an upcoming new administration. It’s too early to tell, but it may offer a pace of change and an opportunity for consolidation that may be quite different, that would provide a real positive and accelerated impact on this industry that’s needed. These are great companies. If the best content is going to win, there needs to be some consolidation in order to have these businesses be stronger and have a better consumer experience.
In English: Zaslav thinks Trump will let him gobble up even more independent studios and streaming services (there are currently just “so many,” he said). This is totally the type of change struggling artists and creatives—sorry, “content” makers—have been pointing to as well. “You’re starting to see fairly large players saying, ‘Hey, maybe I should be part of you or maybe I should be a part of somebody else,'” Zaslav continued, which isn’t bone-chilling at all. At least someone’s happy.
English (US) ·