By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said a deal by Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Trump said, answering questions about the deal and other issues as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors.
The Republican president said he will be involved in deciding whether the federal government should approve the $72 billion deal. If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s largest streaming services under the same ownership and unite Warner’s television and film division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast archive and production arm.
The deal, which could reshape the entertainment industry, has to “go through a process and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.
“Netflix is a great company. They’ve done a phenomenal job. Ted is a fantastic man,” he said, referring to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, noting that they met in the Oval Office last week before the deal was announced on December 5. “I have a lot of respect for him, but it’s a big market share, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
Asked whether Netflix should be allowed to buy the Hollywood giant behind the “Harry Potter” films and HBO Max, the president responded: “Well, that’s the question.”
“They have a very large market share and when they have Warner Bros., you know, that share goes up a lot, so, I don’t know,” he said. “I will also be involved in that decision. But they have a very large market share.”
Sarandos offered no guarantees in their meeting about the merger if it is approved, Trump said, adding that the executive is a “great person” who has “done some of the best work in the history of movies and other things.”
He reiterated that a merger would create “huge market share” for the company.
“There’s no question about it. It could be a problem,” Trump said.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
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