U.S. President Donald Trump speaks earlier than signing govt orders within the Oval Workplace within the White Home in Washington, DC, on Jan. 30, 2026.
Annabelle Gordon | Afp | Getty Photos
President Donald Trump mentioned in a brand new interview on Wednesday did an about-face and mentioned that he won’t be concerned in the struggle between streaming big Netflix and Paramount Skydance to purchase some or all of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“I have not been concerned,” Trump informed “NBC Nightly Information.”
“I have been known as by each side,” Trump mentioned. “It is the 2 sides, however I’ve determined I should not be concerned. The Justice Division will deal with it.”
Trump’s newest remark is a pivot from what he mentioned in early December after Netflix’s proposed acquisition of WBD was made public.
Trump at the moment mentioned the deal “may very well be an issue” due to the dimensions of the market share Netflix would find yourself with if the proposed buy was accepted by federal regulators.
The president, on the identical time, had mentioned he could be concerned within the technique of reviewing and probably approving the deal, which, along with U.S. regulatory approval, faces a evaluation by European regulators.
The billionaire Larry Ellison, whose son David Ellison is Paramount’s CEO, is near Trump.
And Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos visited Trump within the Oval Workplace shortly earlier than his firm’s supply to WBD was really helpful by WBD management.
Netflix proposes buying WBD in a deal price $72 billion, which might not embody the corporate’s cable networks, together with CNN. The deal would give Netflix WBD’s movie studio, along with HBO and the streaming service HBO Max.
Paramount, in response, launched a hostile takeover bid for all of WBD, with an enterprise worth of greater than $108 billion.
“There is a idea that one of many firms is simply too massive and it should not be allowed to do it, and the opposite firm is saying one thing else,” Trump informed NBC Information on Wednesday.
“They’re beating the hell out of one another — and there will be a winner,” the president mentioned.
Sarandos appeared Tuesday earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, the place he reportedly mentioned that his assembly with Trump “was not particularly to speak concerning the deal.”
“I’ve confidence on this case on the deserves, and that it is going to be run by the Division of Justice,” Sarandos mentioned, in keeping with The New York Instances.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, on the listening to mentioned, “All informed, one would possibly say that Netflix seeks to change into the one platform to rule all of them, or no less than to train a big quantity of market dominance,” in keeping with the Instances.
“The merger raises quite a few antitrust considerations, in a nutshell, consolidating each manufacturing and distribution energy,” Lee mentioned.
