Netflix co-founder Hastings praises Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee as policy takes effect
Reed Hastings lauds the administration’s move to raise the H-1B application fee, while officials frame the change as a push to train American workers; the policy arrives as tech industry bids swirl around a potential merger landscape.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings publicly praised President Donald Trump’s move to raise the H-1B visa application fee for skilled workers to $100,000, describing it as a “great solution” that would limit the program to high-value jobs and remove the current lottery process. The policy, announced by the White House and codified in an executive order, took effect on the Sunday cited in government notices, signaling a sharp shift in how U.S. firms recruit foreign talent in specialized fields. Hastings’ post on X, addressed to his followers, marked a conspicuous break from the typical funding-to-the-democratic-advocacy pattern associated with his philanthropic profile.
Hastings, who co-founded Netflix and has long been a prominent Democratic donor, has previously supported campaigns and committees aligned with the party. The Information has reported that he contributed roughly $7 million to Vice President Kamala Harris during her brief presidential bid, illustrating his unique position at the intersection of entertainment, technology, and high-dollar political giving. The executive order sets a new, steep financial hurdle for companies seeking foreign workers in specialized occupations, aiming to steer a greater share of hiring toward Americans and to push employers to invest in domestic training programs.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick framed the policy as a lever to boost American workers and reduce reliance on foreign labor. In remarks accompanying the unveiling of the measure, Lutnick urged companies to invest in domestic training, stressing that the national aim was to “train Americans” rather than to “bring in people to take our jobs.” He added that the government would hold firms to account for their training commitments as part of the policy rollout, reiterating a theme central to the administration’s economic message about reshoring skilled work.
The policy change arrives as a broader set of corporate maneuverings unfolds in the entertainment and tech sectors. Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav has been described as positioning for a bidding contest over his company’s assets as Paramount Global-backed Skydance Media, led by David Ellison, contemplates a takeover bid. The Post has reported that those discussions are underway, with interest reportedly extending to Netflix as a potential participant in any competitive process. While those reports indicate significant industry interest, Netflix, Paramount Skydance, and Warner Bros. Discovery have not publicly commented on the talks.
Analysts cited by CNBC have estimated that any prospective bid for Warner Bros. Discovery could reach about $24 per share, a figure that reflects the company’s mix of studio assets and streaming platforms. The talks, if they materialize into a formal proposal, are expected to be largely cash-based—roughly 70% to 80%—with the remainder in stock and with potential financial backing from prominent investors, including Larry Ellison. The Party of origin of these discussions illustrates how policy shifts in immigration and visas can intersect with the fevered pace of media consolidation, altering the strategic calculus for major studios and their suitors alike.
Netflix, Paramount Skydance, and Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Post. The administration’s new H-1B policy, backed by the executive order, is designed to be a paradigmatic policy instrument in the broader debate over skilled immigration, technology competition, and domestic work opportunities. Proponents argue that the higher fee will ensure that the visa program targets workers who fill critical gaps while encouraging employers to invest in U.S.-based training programs and pipelines for domestic workers. Critics, however, contend that the higher cost could limit access to global talent essential for innovation-intensive sectors such as software development, aerospace, and biomedicine, potentially slowing project timelines and widening talent gaps in high-tech industries.
The policy’s supporters emphasize that the United States has long depended on skilled foreign workers to accelerate innovation, launch new products, and maintain competitiveness in fields like artificial intelligence, semiconductor development, and cloud services. They argue that a higher entry price for H-1B petitions will concentrate visas on roles with demonstrably high value to the domestic economy, thereby reducing the need for a lottery that disperses visas without regard to job outcomes. In this framing, the policy is less about curtailing immigration and more about refining the allocation of a finite and highly scrutinized resource to maximize public benefit.
Opponents warn that the higher fee could discourage companies from pursuing specialized foreign talent, potentially slowing important research and development work and prompting employers to favor domestic labor at the expense of global collaboration. Labor advocates and some technology workers have argued that the visa program remains a crucial channel for filling hard-to-staff roles and that the added financial burden may selectively affect smaller startups and mid-sized enterprises with limited hiring budgets. As the policy takes effect, observers will monitor how the new fee interacts with other visa policies and whether related regulatory actions follow that could alter timelines for visa issuance and processing.
The White House has signaled that the policy is intended as part of a broader strategy to align immigration policy with national workforce development goals. While Hastings’ praise highlights a singular moment of alignment between a major Democratic donor and a GOP administration, the overall policy debate remains deeply partisan, reflecting broader tensions over immigration, labor markets, and the governance of global talent in a rapidly evolving economy. As more data on visa processing and domestic hiring trends emerge, lawmakers and business leaders alike will assess whether the $100,000 H-1B fee achieves its stated objectives without unintended consequences for innovation ecosystems across the United States.