US President Trump Calls Netflix a “Great Company” but Says Merger “Could Be a Problem”
Netflix’s huge plan to buy Warner Bros Discovery has turned into one of the biggest entertainment shakeups in years, and President Donald Trump is already weighing in. The streaming giant announced last Friday that it struck a deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery’s massive TV and movie empire, a move that could reshape Hollywood all over again. But Trump isn’t convinced this takeover is as straightforward as it sounds.
While speaking at the Kennedy Centre Honours on Sunday, he made it clear he has concerns. “There’s no question about it. It could be a problem,” he said, adding that the deal still has to “go through a process and we’ll see what happens.” He also confirmed that he’s directly involved in the federal government’s review of the takeover, which was announced just days earlier.
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Netflix outbid major competitors like Paramount, Skydance and Comcast for the purchase, which includes HBO, HBO Max, and huge franchises like Harry Potter and Batman. Bringing all of that under the Netflix umbrella could give the streamer an enormous advantage over its rivals. Trump noted that exact issue, saying, “They have a very big market share and when they have Warner Bros, you know, that share goes up a lot, so, I don’t know. I’ll be involved in that decision, too. But they have a very big market share.”
Despite the scepticism, Trump had nothing but praise for Netflix and its chief executive, Ted Sarandos. He called Netflix “a great company” and described Sarandos as “a fantastic man.” The president even mentioned their Oval Office meeting last week before the deal was announced, saying, “I have a lot of respect for him, but it’s a lot of market share, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
Trump clarified that Sarandos didn’t make any promises about whether the merger would be approved. He called him “a great person” who has “done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things.” If the deal goes through, it would combine two of the world’s biggest entertainment catalogues. Warner’s powerhouse TV and film operations, including DC Studios, would merge with Netflix’s massive library and production machine.
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That combination has a lot of people in the industry worried, especially unions. On Friday, the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East issued a joint statement urging regulators to stop the merger. They argued the deal would cut jobs, lower wages, and worsen working conditions for entertainment workers who are already dealing with nonstop changes in the industry.
Netflix has agreed to pay $27.75 per share to buy the Warner Bros Discovery business. But the deal won’t close until after Warner Bros Discovery spins off its cable channels like CNN, TBS, and TNT Sports in the UK. Even then, regulators still have to decide whether combining Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery gives one company too much power over what Americans watch.
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