President Trump Signals Personal Intervention in $83 Billion Netflix-Warner Bros. Merger Review

President Donald Trump declared on Sunday

That he intends to personally oversee the regulatory review of Netflix’s proposed $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, casting early doubt on whether the massive media consolidation will survive antitrust scrutiny. Speaking to reporters outside the Kennedy Center Honors, the President highlighted the potential dangers of market dominance, suggesting that the union of the world’s largest streaming service with one of Hollywood’s most storied studios “could be a problem.”

"They have a very big market share," President Trump said, addressing the blockbuster agreement announced just days prior. "When they have Warner Bros., that share goes up a lot. So, I don't know. That's going to be for some economists to tell and also and I'll be involved in that decision too. But they have a very big market share." The President’s remarks signal a potentially rocky road ahead for what would be the largest media merger in recent history, despite his reported friendly personal rapport with Netflix leadership.

The comments follow a private Oval Office meeting last week between President Trump and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. While the President offered effusive praise for the executive calling Sarandos "fantastic" and likening his impact on the industry to that of legendary MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer he made it clear that personal admiration would not automatically translate to regulatory approval. "I met with Ted... I think, in the history of Hollywood, there's almost nothing like what he's done," Trump noted. “But it is a big market share, there's no question about that.”

The definitive agreement, revealed on Friday, values the transaction at approximately $83 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Netflix would absorb the Warner Bros. film and television studios, along with the HBO and HBO Max streaming services. This would bring lucrative intellectual property, including the Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and DC Universe franchises, under the Netflix umbrella. Crucially, the deal is structured to occur only after Warner Bros. Discovery spins off its linear television assets including CNN, TNT, and the Discovery Channel into a separate, independent publicly traded company.

Industry analysts view the spinoff of cable networks as a strategic maneuver to appease regulators by keeping the acquisition focused on streaming and studio production rather than live news or sports broadcasting. However, the sheer scale of the combined libraries has already triggered alarm bells among unions and competitors. The Writers Guild of America has publicly opposed the merger, arguing that a single entity controlling such a vast percentage of production and distribution would stifle competition and suppress wages. Rival bidders, including Comcast and Paramount Skydance, had also vied for the Warner assets, underscoring the high stakes of the negotiation.

President Trump’s history with media mergers adds another layer of complexity to the review process. During his first term and subsequent years, he frequently expressed skepticism toward massive corporate consolidations that reduce consumer choice. His direct assertion that he will be "involved" suggests the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission may face significant executive pressure as they evaluate whether the Netflix-Warner alliance violates antitrust laws.

For now, the deal remains in the early stages of a long regulatory winter. While shareholders of both companies have largely reacted with optimism to the premium offered by Netflix, the President's Sunday remarks have injected a note of caution into the market. As the administration prepares to weigh the economic impact of a streaming monopoly, Wall Street and Hollywood alike are left to wonder if the deal is too big to fail or simply too big to pass.