Business
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos to testify on $72 billion Warner Bros merger deal
MoffettNathanson senior analyst Robert Fishman weighs in on Netflix’s earnings-driven stock drop, the Warner Bros. Discovery deal and the long-term outlook on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is set to testify on Tuesday before a Senate panel scrutinizing how the streaming giant’s proposed $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery would impact competition in the entertainment industry’s streaming segment.
Sarandos will testify alongside Warner Bros. Chief Revenue Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell as the executives face questions over the competitive impact of the proposed merger before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights.
While Congress doesn’t have authority to block or delay the merger, the hearing will afford lawmakers the opportunity to hear from the companies about how it would affect competition between streaming platforms, as well as workers and consumers.
If Netflix’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery succeeds, the streaming service would gain access to WBD’s film and television studios, the HBO Max streaming service, as well as a content library that includes “Game of Thrones,” “Harry Potter,” as well as DC Comics’ superheroes Batman and Superman.
NETFLIX AMENDS WARNER BROS DISCOVERY DEAL TO ALL-CASH OFFER

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos will testify about the company’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. (David Benito/FilmMagic)
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who chairs the subcommittee holding the hearing, has been critical of the deal and has questioned whether Netflix intends to move forward with it or whether it wants to inhibit competition during what may be a lengthy antitrust review.
The deal is currently under review by the Department of Justice, while Paramount Skydance is pursuing a hostile bid after Warner Bros. Discovery’s board rejected its bid in favor of Netflix’s offer.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFLX | NETFLIX INC. | 82.76 | -0.73 | -0.87% |
| WBD | WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY INC. | 27.52 | -0.02 | -0.07% |
| PSKY | PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE CORP. | 10.97 | -0.20 | -1.83% |
WARNER BROS DISCOVERY BOARD UNANIMOUSLY REJECTS PARAMOUNT’S TENDER OFFER, SAYS NETFLIX DEAL SUPERIOR
Paramount argues that it will have a more favorable path to regulatory approval, though Warner Bros. Discovery has noted the company would have to go into debt to finance the deal.
Sources close to Netflix have noted that an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount would also reduce the number of studios, lessening competition in the space.
Netflix has cited statistics from media analysis firm Nielsen to show that Google’s YouTube has a larger share of viewing time on U.S. households’ TVs than other streaming services such as itself. Antitrust experts have noted that the DOJ’s review may focus instead on subscription-based streaming services that are more similar to Netflix.

Warner Bros. Discovery plans to proceed with its merger agreement with Netflix. (Mario Tama/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Last month, the Warner Bros. Discovery board voted unanimously to reject Paramount’s tender offer, with Warner Bros. Discovery board Chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. saying that “Paramount’s latest offer remains inferior to our merger agreement with Netflix across multiple key areas.”
“Paramount’s offer continues to provide insufficient value, including terms such as an extraordinary amount of debt financing that create risks to close and lack of protections for our shareholders if a transaction is not completed,” Di Piazza continued. “Our binding agreement with Netflix will offer superior value at greater levels of certainty, without the significant risks and costs Paramount’s offer would impose on our shareholders.”

Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros Discovery was rejected by the board. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Netflix revised its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery last month to an all-cash offer priced at $27.75 per share, valuing the deal at $72 billion, which amounts to an enterprise value of $82.7 billion.
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Paramount’s offer amounts to an enterprise value of $108 billion and includes more assets, such as Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable business.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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HealthEquity, Inc. (HQY) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Operator
Good afternoon, and welcome to the HealthEquity Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Richard Putnam. Please go ahead.
Richard Putnam
Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you, Gary. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. This is HealthEquity’s Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Richard Putnam, I do Investor Relations for HealthEquity. Joining me today are Scott Cutler, President and CEO; Dr. Steve Neeleman, Vice Chair and Founder of the company; and James Lucania, Executive Vice President and CFO.
Before I turn the call over to Scott for our prepared remarks, we note that the press release announcing our fourth quarter financial results was issued after the market closed this afternoon and that it includes certain non-GAAP financial measures that we will reference here today. You can find a copy of today’s press release, including reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures with comparable GAAP measures on our Investor Relations website, which is ir.healthequity.com.
Our comments and responses to your questions reflect management’s view as of today, March 17, 2026 and they will contain forward-looking statements as defined
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I am mostly a trader engaging in both long and short bets intraday and occasionally over the short- to medium term. My historical focus has been mostly on tech stocks but over the past couple of years I have also started broad coverage of the offshore drilling and supply industry as well as the shipping industry in general (tankers, containers, drybulk). In addition, I am having a close eye on the still nascent fuel cell industry.I am located in Germany and have worked quite some time as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers before becoming a daytrader almost 20 years ago. During this time, I managed to successfully maneuver the burst of the dotcom bubble and the aftermath of the world trade center attacks as well as the subprime crisis.Despite not being a native speaker, I always try to deliver high quality research to followers and the entire Seeking Alpha community.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
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Xfinity Outage Disrupts San Francisco Bay Area Internet Service on March 16, Sparking Customer Frustration
Thousands of Xfinity customers across the San Francisco Bay Area experienced widespread internet disruptions Monday morning, March 16, 2026, as reports of outages surged shortly after 9 a.m. local time. The incident, which peaked with more than 7,000 user complaints on outage tracking sites, affected residential and business users in San Francisco, Oakland, the South Bay, Marin County, Napa and other regions, highlighting recurring connectivity challenges in one of the nation’s most tech-reliant areas.

Downdetector, a real-time outage monitoring platform, recorded a sharp spike in reports beginning around 9 a.m. PDT, with the peak hitting at 9:14 a.m. The heat map concentrated heavily in the Bay Area, showing clusters in Oakland, San Jose, Napa, Marin and the Peninsula. Users primarily reported issues with internet access, though some mentioned problems with TV services, voice lines and the Xfinity app itself becoming inaccessible during the height of the disruption.
Local media outlets quickly picked up on the complaints. SFGATE reported that the outage cut internet for many at the start of the workweek, describing it as widespread across the region. KRON4 noted that reports spiked after 9 a.m., with no immediate explanation from Comcast, the parent company of Xfinity. The San Francisco Chronicle added that brief outages hit Xfinity customers across San Francisco, the East Bay, North Bay, Peninsula and South Bay, with most issues appearing to resolve by 10 a.m.
A Comcast spokesperson told the Chronicle that the disruption stemmed from a network update being performed by the company. The statement suggested the maintenance, intended to improve service, inadvertently caused the temporary outage. No estimated restoration time was initially provided, though some user reports on social media and forums indicated partial recovery within an hour for many affected areas.
The Xfinity outage map, accessible via the company’s support site, showed scattered spots of ongoing issues across the Bay Area as of mid-morning Monday. By late afternoon and into Tuesday, March 17, user reports on Downdetector had dropped significantly, with the platform indicating no major current problems nationwide as of early Tuesday evening KST (corresponding to morning PDT). However, isolated complaints persisted in pockets of the region, and some Reddit threads in r/bayarea discussed lingering effects or unrelated scheduled maintenance starting overnight into March 17.
Social media platforms lit up with frustrated customers sharing experiences. On Reddit, users in Livermore and other East Bay spots reported the outage rendering even the Xfinity app and status page unusable while on cellular data. Threads on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook echoed similar sentiments, with some drawing comparisons to a near-anniversary outage from March 2025 that similarly impacted San Francisco.
The incident underscores broader concerns about internet reliability in the Bay Area, where high-speed connectivity is essential for remote work, education and the tech economy. Xfinity, as the dominant cable broadband provider in much of the region, frequently faces scrutiny during such events. Monday’s disruption affected not only individual users but potentially businesses relying on stable connections for operations, video calls and cloud services.
Some reports suggested spillover effects to other providers, including brief mentions of AT&T and AWS-related issues, though Xfinity remained the primary focus. The Chronicle noted complaints from both Xfinity and AT&T customers, but details remained limited on whether the events were linked.
Customers were advised to check the official Xfinity outage map by entering their full service address for personalized status updates. The company also recommends texting “Out” to 266278 for outage information or using the Xfinity app when accessible. Troubleshooting steps include restarting modems and routers, though during widespread events, these often prove ineffective until network restoration.
As of Tuesday, March 17, 2026, the bulk of reports indicate service has returned for most Bay Area users impacted Monday. Downdetector’s 24-hour map shows resolved concentration in the region, and no new surge has emerged. Comcast has not issued a formal follow-up statement detailing the full scope or preventive measures post-update.
The event serves as a reminder of infrastructure vulnerabilities amid increasing dependence on broadband. Bay Area residents, many working hybrid or fully remote schedules, expressed annoyance at the timing — hitting during peak morning productivity hours. Some speculated about underlying causes beyond the admitted network update, including potential equipment failures or external factors, though no evidence supported those theories.
For ongoing monitoring, users can visit downdetector.com/status/xfinity or xfinity.com/support/statusmap. Comcast encourages signing up for text alerts for future incidents.
While brief, Monday’s outage disrupted daily routines for thousands in the tech-forward Bay Area. As service stabilizes, attention turns to Comcast’s network reliability efforts ahead of any future planned maintenance or unexpected events.
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