By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump stated Sunday {that a} deal struck by Netflix to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” due to the dimensions of the mixed market share.
“There’s no question about it,” Trump stated, answering questions in regards to the deal and numerous different subjects as he walked the pink carpet on the Kennedy Heart Honors.
The Republican president stated he might be concerned within the choice about whether or not the federal authorities ought to approve the $72 billion deal. If permitted by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s greatest streaming companies below the identical possession and be part of Warner’s tv and movement image division, together with DC Studios, with Netflix’s huge library and its manufacturing arm.
The deal, which might reshape the leisure business, has to “go through a process and we’ll see what happens,” Trump stated.
“Netflix is a great company. They’ve done a phenomenal job. Ted is a fantastic man,” he stated of Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, noting that they met within the Oval Workplace final week earlier than the deal was introduced Dec. 5. “I have a lot of respect for him but it’s a lot of market share, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
Requested if Netflix ought to be allowed to purchase the Hollywood large behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max, the president stated, “Well that’s the question.”
“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,” he stated. “I’ll be involved in that decision, too. But they have a very big market share”
Sarandos made no ensures at their assembly in regards to the merger whether it is permitted, Trump stated, including that the CEO is a “great person” who has “done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things.”
FILE – Ted Sarandos arrives on the premiere of “The Electric State” on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photograph by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
He repeated {that a} merger would create a “big market share” for the corporate.
“There’s no question about it. It could be a problem,” Trump stated.
Related Press author John Carucci contributed to this report.
