US President Donald Trump raised potential antitrust concerns around Netflix Inc.’s planned $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., noting that the market share of the combined entity may pose problems.
Trump’s comments, made as he arrived at the Kennedy Center for an event on Sunday, may spur concerns regulators will oppose the coupling of the world’s dominant streaming service with a Hollywood icon. The company faces a lengthy Justice Department review of a deal that would reshape the entertainment industry.
“Well, that’s got to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said when asked about the deal, confirming he met Netflix co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos recently. “But it is a big market share. It could be a problem.”
Bets on prediction marketplace Polymarket showed a 23% chance of Netflix closing the acquisition by the end of 2026, down from around 60% just before Trump’s comments. Warner Bros. rose 1% in early trading on the Blue Ocean trading platform, while Netflix dropped 1.4%.
The deal would combine the world’s No. 1 streaming player with HBO Max. The Justice Department’s antitrust division, which would review the transaction in the US, could argue that the deal is illegal because the combined market share would put Netflix well over a 30% threshold.
