Antitrust head overseeing Netflix-Warner merger resigns

The head of the antitrust division is out at the US Department of Justice. Gail Slater, a former JD Vance adviser and Fox Corp VP, reportedly clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi. Their longstanding feud is said to have centered around Slater's skepticism of corporate mergers.

"It is with great sadness and abiding hope that I leave my role as [Assistant Attorney General] for Antitrust today," Slater posted on X. "It was indeed the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role."

Although Slater technically resigned, The Guardian reports that she was forced out. The fallout was said to be over her differences with Bondi (who just yesterday yelled, insulted and deflected her way through a hearing over the DOJ's stonewalling of the Epstein files). In recent weeks, Bondi reportedly reiterated to the White House that Slater's views on the antitrust division's direction made the pair's relationship irreconcilable.

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The tensions reportedly began simmering last summer, when Slater sought to block the merger between Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks. She opposed the deal out of concerns that it would create a duopoly in cloud computing and wireless networking. In addition, Slater reportedly told Bondi that US intelligence hadn't raised any concerns about blocking the merger. However, CIA Director John Ratcliffe later claimed that blocking it would pose national security risks because it could lead to the loss of business to China. The Trump administration's merger-friendly DOJ ultimately approved the deal.

Alongside Bondi, Slater was overseeing the DOJ's review of Netflix's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. In December, Trump said he would be involved in the regulatory review. That followed intense lobbying by Netflix and Paramount, the latter of which launched a hostile takeover bid. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the department was investigating whether Netflix was involved in anticompetitive practices during the process.

Slater's ousting also comes weeks ahead of the DOJ's antitrust trial against Ticketmaster owner Live Nation. The department's lawsuit was filed during the Biden administration. It claims that Live Nation is operating as a monopoly, harming competition, fans, industry promoters and artists.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/antitrust-head-overseeing-netflix-warner-merger-resigns-192854114.html?src=rss