Department of Justice Antitrust Chief Gail Slater to Exit Role Amid Netflix-WB Deal Review
The Department of Justice’s antitrust chief Gail Slater is exiting her role after less than a year.
“It is with great sadness and abiding hope that I leave my role as AAG for Antitrust today,” Slate wrote in an X post on Thursday. “It was indeed the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role. Huge thanks to all who supported me this past year, most especially the men and women of [The Department of Justice Antitrust Division].”
Slater was confirmed as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division in March 2025.
Prior to the DOJ, she was an economic policy advisor to Vice President and then-Senator J.D. Vance. She also served on the Trump 45 White House National Economic Council with responsibility for technology and telecommunications policy. She also worked as an antitrust lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission for 10 years and in the private sector at the law firm Freshfields, Fox Corporation and Roku.
“On behalf of the Department of Justice, we thank Gail Slater for her service to the Antitrust Division which works to protect consumers, promote affordability, and expand economic opportunity,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
A DOJ spokesperson did not disclose the reasoning behind Slater’s departure, though CBS News reports she was ousted by Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over internal disagreements. The outlet adds that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi will serve as acting antitrust chief.
Slater’s exit follows the departure of one of her top deputies, Mark Hamer, earlier this week.
The move comes as the DOJ is reviewing Netflix’s $83 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets, as well as Paramount’s $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid for the entire company. It’s unclear how Slater’s departure may impact the timing of the review.
After previously saying he would be involved in the approval of any deal, President Donald Trump changed his mind, telling NBC News last week that he “shouldn’t be involved” in the decision and would let the Department of Justice handle it.
However, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported on Thursday that Trump met privately with Paramount CEO David Ellison last week. Representatives for Paramount did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The DOJ has issued second requests for information to both companies, which typically ask for business documents and data that will inform the DOJ about the company’s products or services, market conditions where the company does business and the likely competitive effects of ta merger. The agency may conduct interviews, either informally or by sworn testimony, with company personnel or others with knowledge about the industry.
Paramount said it complied with the second request for information on Monday. The waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act would expire 10 calendar days after compliance with the request at 11:59 p.m. ET, though that expiration does not stop the DOJ from investigating Paramount’s bid should it reach an actual deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Additionally, Paramount said it received clearance from foreign investment authorities in Germany on Jan. 27, though that only addresses national security concerns and is one of more than a dozen foreign investment clearances needed. European regulators can still investigate the deal for potential antitrust concerns.
An insider familiar with the matter told TheWrap that Netflix has also received similar clearance in Germany and is at the same stage of the regulatory review process.
In addition to regulatory approval, Paramount would need shareholders to accept its tender offer. 42.3 million shares have been validly tendered to Paramount as of Monday, a 75% decline from its prior disclosure of 168.5 million shares tendered on Jan. 21 and a small portion of WBD’s total 2.48 billion outstanding shares. Investors can withdraw their tender at any time before the Feb. 20 deadline.
On Tuesday, Ellison sweetened Paramount’s bid with a 25 cent per share “ticking fee,” which will give shareholders $650 million in cash for every quarter a deal isn’t closed after Dec. 31, and said it would cover the $2.8 billion termination fee payable to Netflix, as well as other debt and financing commitments. Paramount also said it is open to discussing “contractual solutions to account for the possibility of continuing deteriorating financial performance beyond what WBD is currently projecting for its linear network business.”
Paramount has also launched a proxy fight seeking to thwart Netflix and to condition the pending spinoff of Discovery Global to a shareholder vote.
Additionally, Ellison has received an ally in activist investor Ancora Holdings, which has built a $200 million stake in Warner Bros. and is planning to oppose the Netflix deal. Ancora is also interviewing director candidates as it mulls a proxy fight and plans to grow its Warner Bros. stake, which represents less than 1% of WBD’s outstanding shares.
Shareholders are expected to vote on the Netflix deal by April.
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