US President Donald Trump has warned that Netflix’s planned $83 billion takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery could face potential regulatory hurdles as the combined company’s scale “could be a problem”.
Speaking at an event in Washington DC on Sunday, Trump said Netflix has a “big market share” and that the deal would enlarge its footprint substantially. “Very big market share,” he said, noting it would “go up by a lot” if the acquisition proceeds. He also indicated he would be directly involved in assessing whether to approve the transaction.
The companies announced on Friday that they had reached an agreement that would bring Warner Brothers’ major film and television franchises under Netflix’s umbrella.
The transaction still requires clearance from US competition authorities. The Justice Department’s antitrust division is expected to scrutinise whether the combined business would dominate the streaming market to an extent that violates federal law.
Trump said Netflix’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, recently visited the Oval Office, describing him as a “great person” who has “done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies”.
Sarandos, for his part, has acknowledged that the agreement may have caught some investors off guard but framed it as a long-term strategic move to position Netflix for the “decades to come”.
The deal is also facing heat from Hollywood insiders. The Writers Guild of America’s East and West branches urged regulators to block the merger, arguing that “the world’s largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent”.
The unions warned the deal would “eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers”.