Trump says the big Netflix-Warner Bros merger could be a problem heres why

Date:
Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:34:14 +0000

Description:
Could be a problem: Trump wants to personally help decide the Netflix-Warner Bros. Deal and hes already highlighted a big reason to block it.

FULL STORY

Days after Netflix announced it had won the bidding war over Warner Bros. Discovery thanks to an agreement valued at $82.7 billion it appears that
the deal may hit a sizable roadblock: Donald Trump. The US President said the combined size of the duo could be a problem.

Speaking at an event at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the United States President remarked that Netflixs already very big market share would likely go up by a lot if the deal was allowed to go ahead.

He isnt wrong either.

Current market share estimates suggest Netflix and HBO Max (WBDs streaming service) control a combined 34% of the US streaming market which is above
the level of control the US Department of Justices antitrust rules would
allow after a merger. These figures, however, crucially dont include YouTube.

Its believed that Netflix's lawyers will argue that Netflix and WBDs market share is much smaller when you take Googles platform into account with stats showing YouTube has the highest video streaming viewership share by some margin. They may also try to downplay WBD as a streaming rival and instead focus on its utility as a production studio and content library.

Personal politics

Beyond market share considerations, the Presidents comments about wanting to have an unprecedented level of involvement in the negotiation have led some
to speculate if more personal leanings could play a part in decision-making.

Trump has had some very positive things about Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos, calling him a great person who has done one of the greatest jobs in the
history of movies.

However, reports also suggest (via The Guardian ) that President Trump would have preferred Paramounts offer to buy WBD to win out. David Ellison is the chief executive of Paramount, and the deal to buy WBD was backed by his
father, Larry Ellison, a staunch Trump ally -- Ellison is also at the
center of the US TikTok buyout.

David Ellison directly referred to having a Trump card (via The Independent ) in his pocket to help a possible Paramount WBD acquisition go through ahead
of the Netflix agreement being chosen, and more recently, Paramount described the Netflix deal as "unfair."

None of this is to say personal politics will be a key consideration for the administration, but it adds further fuel to the fire of speculation that Netflixs deal could ultimately get blocked.

To block or not to block

All that said, weve already covered these arguments and more in our analysis with experts on what the Netflix and Warner Bros. deal could mean for you . TL;DR: more content on one platform, but price hikes are likely, and working
in the entertainment industry could become even more challenging.

So to some extent, while Trump's involvement isnt par for the course, its not unreasonable for Netflix to have already considered all of the possible ways the deal could collapse, and despite these pitfalls, its so confident things will be approved that the deal includes a $5.8 billion breakup fee (via The Hollywood Reporter ).

This wouldnt just pay out if Netflix walks away; Netflix pays this fine if
the deal doesnt go through for any reason. Thats a lot of money to offer if
it isnt reasonably certain that regulators will approve the acquisition.

Were still very early days in a deal that isnt expected to close until the
end of 2026 potentially not even until were into 2027. That is to say, we
have a lot of time to see some twists and turns play out before we know if
HBO Maxs name change saga will stop at Netflix or something else entirely.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/streaming/netflix/trump-says-the-big-netflix-warner- bros-merger-could-be-a-problem-heres-why

https://tinyurl.com/3jehrsm2

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