President Donald Trump warned Sunday that Netflix Inc.'s proposed $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.'s film studio, HBO streaming service, and related assets "could be a problem" due to excessive market concentration, stating the deal must undergo rigorous review and that he will personally oversee the decision-making process.
Speaking to reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., Trump acknowledged Netflix as a "great company" led by "fantastic" co-CEO Ted Sarandos, whom he recently hosted at the White House for a two-hour discussion on the merger, reports Bloomberg.
He added, "I'll be involved in that decision, too," signaling an unusually direct presidential role in what is typically handled by antitrust regulators like the U.S. Justice Department.
"That has to go through a process, and we'll see what happens," Trump said. "They have a very big market share... When they have Warner Bros., that share goes up a lot. That's going to be for some economists to tell... But it is a big market share. There's no question it could be a problem."
The comments, made just two days after Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the blockbuster agreement on Friday, immediately chilled market sentiment. Prediction markets like Polymarket saw the odds of the deal closing by the end of 2026 drop from around 60% to 23% following Trump's remarks.
The transaction, which values Warner Bros. Discovery's targeted assets at approximately $72 billion (with some reports citing $83 billion including synergies), would fold iconic franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and Looney Tunes into Netflix's library, boosting its global subscriber base beyond 400 million.
It excludes Warner's cable networks like CNN and TNT, which are slated for a separate spinoff in the second half of 2026, with the full deal expected to close in 12-18 months pending shareholder and regulatory approval.