As Paramount, with close ties to the Trump administration, entered the bidding, experts predict any merger will ‘raise red flags’ among regulators
Over the first 10 months of his second presidency, Donald Trump has not hidden his desire to control the US media industry – from encouraging TV networks to fire journalists, comedians and critics he dislikes to pushing regulators to revoke broadcast licences. Now he seems determined to set the terms for one of the biggest media deals in history.
It’s a deal that could have repercussions not just in the US, but across the world, with not just the future of Hollywood at stake but also the landscape of news.
Another American president likely would have politely declined to comment when asked by a reporter about a massive media merger that would require fact-driven oversight and regulatory approval by a purportedly independent-minded branch of their administration.
But when Trump was asked on Sunday about Netflix’s $82.7bn (£61.8bn) deal to acquire the studio and streaming businesses of Warner Bros Discovery – the media company whose assets run the gamut from Batman and Casablanca to The Sopranos, Succession and CNN – he didn’t hesitate to say he would be “involved” in the review process for the deal.
