Netflix, Warner Bros, and Monopolies: Caleb Silver Breaks Down the Power Moves

In this exclusive Market Mondays clip, Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings welcome back Caleb Silver, editor in chief of Investopedia, to break down one of the biggest stories shaking up the entertainment and financial worlds: Netflix’s potential $72 billion acquisition of Warner Brothers’ streaming assets. Was this deal ever real? And what does it mean for the power dynamics of streaming giants? Caleb Silver explains exactly what a monopoly is, tracing its history from the era of the railroads and the origin of U.S. antitrust laws to today’s streaming wars. The trio discusses how monopolies work, why the government steps in with antitrust policies, and how proximity to political power plays a bigger role in the stock market than ever before. You’ll get expert insights into:

• Why "Assets over Liabilities" is more than just a hoodie slogan—it's the ultimate metric in the current market.
• How and why the Federal Trade Commission cracks down on monopolies.
• The real meaning behind antitrust cases and how they protect consumers and competitors.
• The surprising influence of presidential administrations in shaping business deals and market outcomes.
• What the Netflix x Warner Brothers mega-deal could signal for the future of entertainment and investing.

Whether you’re a budding investor, an industry insider, or just a fan of Market Mondays’ fresh takes, this clip offers a crash course in market mechanics, business strategy, and why your proximity to power could make or break your portfolio. Drop your thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to hit subscribe for all the latest Market Mondays insights! *Hashtags:* #MarketMondays #Investing #Netflix #Monopoly #Antitrust #WarnerBros #StreamingWars #AssetsOverLiabilities #CalebSilver #FinancialEducation #Stocks #BusinessNews

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (00:43):
All right, well, let's bring our guests on. You have
our guest, Caleb Silver.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Friend of the show, Calip, what's good?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
My guy? My brother? How are you y'all? Twenty?

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Cal what's got man?

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Good?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
March?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Good March?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Tell what happens every time you would ask my shirt man?

Speaker 3 (01:03):
I get so many phone numbers dropped on me. I
got people DM and me left and right. I can't
walk around my family. It's embarrassing. Not only not only
do I look fly fresh to death. It's warm. You
guys got a good sale going on right now, and
it is. It is probably the most important metric in
the stock market right now, Assets over liabilities, right, gross

(01:23):
profit margins, revenue per employee. That's what's driving a lot
of these stocks right now. So your logo is perfect
and this is the perfect hoodie for the cold winners
of New York City.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yes, I appreciate you. One of my favorite people on
the planet.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Absolutely, and I tell my friends not to kidnap you
in Atlanta anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, that's okay. That ended up being one of the
greatest nights of my life. Shout out to my guys
in India right now. I know, I know they're tapped
in to market Mondays as usual. Good to be with
you as always, my friends.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
All right, So Caleb Silva, editor in cheap of Investopedia
and just all around very intelligent person when it comes
to stocks, and it has been a great resource and
bring into the program and everything that we've done from
investmest to market Mondays to earn your leisure. So always
appreciate when you come on and share share your wisdom.
You've done, uh, technically, you've done technical analysis when it

(02:15):
comes to cryptocurrency, you done all types of different stuff.
So I want to start the conversation with Netflix. So
you know, we talked about this on Instagram a few
days ago, where at the time it appeared that they
acquired Warner Brothers and all streaming assets well in a
seventy two billion dollar deal and that was something that

(02:38):
really just broke the internet. But then a few days
later the Trump administration raised concerned about Netflix purchase of
Warner Brothers and said that not so fast as far
as raised the concerns about it being a monopoly. So okay,
let's let's talk about let's have a whole conversation about this.
But first let's let's talk about from educational standpoint, and

(03:01):
it goes to the website. But people that may not
know what is a monopoly? Right? Where is that the
antid trust in the government come into play at some
point in tom I believe you know, we had this
is like the stop all of the Carnegie Rockefellers things
that happened in the early turn of the century. So
talk about monopolies and how this all comes into where

(03:24):
where we get hit. Now, Yeah, this.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Is beautiful, this is this is the entire sort of
history of American capitalism, all coming to in head over
entertainment assets, the biggest ones being obviously the Warner Brothers
Library and Netflix, which would have become the biggest content
company in the world. Basically, so monopoly goes all the
way back to the anti Trust Acts of the Railroad Acts,
the Sherman Act of the Railroad Acts in the nineteenth

(03:47):
century late nineteenth century, when the railroads were developing in
this country, they were building out, trying to get cross country,
and there were several big ones that were colluding together.
And that defines monopoly. When you have one, two or
more parties collude together to try to corner our market
and control market share, that is deemed monopolistic. When they
make it anti competitive for competitors to enter the market

(04:10):
and anti competitive for suppliers potentially to supply to those competitors,
that's monopoly. And usually the Federal Trade Commission rules against
monopolies and have tried to strike them down. And except
when the price is right, and we saw today, or
it was today yesterday, beautiful hostile takeover bid from a
competitor now entering the market, So you have a monopoly

(04:32):
potentially you have an anti trust ruling and now you
have a hostile takeover bid, all wrapped into one story.
This is Investipedia wrapped up in a beautiful box with
a bow. I love it.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Doesn't this make it a little bit more interesting that
the administration is involved in this? Obviously they said that,
you know, they don't want it to be a monopoly.
And then today the President said that he doesn't have
friends on either side, but a little dig into the research,
he doesn't have friends, but he definitely has family on ons.
That's interest, yeah, and invested interest. I mean this is

(05:03):
pretty unique.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, it's pretty unique, but it's not unusual to this administration.
The last time I was on here with you guys
a few months back after this administration took off, As
I said, the most important metric right now for companies
is proximity to power. Who is sitting at the White House,
who's having dinner, who's being invited to the CEO private
dinners and mar A Lago for golf and drinks by

(05:25):
the pool. And if you're in that camp, you've done
very well as a stock. And this administration has proved
that it is going to do what's in its best interest,
in the best interest the people that are close to it,
and also put their hand into private businesses, whether that's
investments in companies like Intel, or whether that's trying to
strong arm deals between Nvidia and its suppliers or MD

(05:46):
and its suppliers, or guaranteed that companies build factories and
infrastructure here in the United States, they're going to do it,
So assume that they will have their hands in this
as well.

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