Ted Sarandos Says He Would Rather Take Over ‘SNL’ Than Disney (2025)

“I’m saving Hollywood,” said Ted Sarandos when asked if he was “destroying Hollywood” from the box office suffering due to streaming platforms continuing to expand.

“Netflix is a very consumer-focused company. We really do care that we deliver the program to you in a way you want to watch it, and it’s a program that you love and desire. So we don’t let a lot of other outside forces get in the way of that,” Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, said at this year’s Time 100 Summit on Wednesday. “The box office being done by way of example, what does that say? What is a consumer trying to tell us? That they like to watch movies at home.”

The business executive noted that even though the subscription numbers are not the most important to him anymore, they are: “Engagement, revenue, profit.”

Sam Jacobs,Time‘s editor-in-chief,pointed out that Sarandos has been at Netflix for 25 years, so he asked him: “In your next job, would you rather run Saturday Night Live or Disney?” Sarandos quickly replied: “Saturday Night Live.“

Jacobs then asked who should replace Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, and Sarandos said he has “no idea.”

Sarandos previously spoke about the suspicion that he would succeed Iger and told the Wall Street Journal in October, “It’s not even on my mind.”

He continued, “It’s hard for me to recommend the program to another company where I don’t really understand their business and, in turn, their business culture. I understand their business pretty well, but not their business culture.”

Meanwhile, who will replace Lorne Michaels? SNL alum Tina Fey has been rumored to be next in line and Michaels has previously said she “could easily” do the job. And in The Hollywood Reporter‘s cover story last week, Fey noted how he is an “irreplaceable” mentor.