WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has suggested that a deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share.
“There's no question about it,” Trump said Sunday, answering questions about the deal and various other topics as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors.
But asked again during a White House event with farmers a day later, Trump said he “didn't know anything about the deal."
“I know the companies very well, I know what they’re doing," Trump said, while also adding that he had to "see what percentage of market they have.”
The president also said, “None of them are particularly great friends of mine," but added, “I want to do what’s right.”
His second round of comments came after Paramount launched a hostile takeover offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, backed by a group of investors that includes an equity firm founded by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump said he had not spoken to Kushner about the matter, and suggested instead that his son-in-law is “trying to work on Gaza,” a reference to Kushner's work to promote a U.S.-backed ceasefire to halt fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Republican president has said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the $72 billion Netflix-Warner deal. If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s biggest streaming services under the same ownership and join Warner’s television and motion picture division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast library and its production arm.
The deal, which could reshape the entertainment industry, has to “go through a process and we'll see what happens," Trump said Sunday night.
In his first comments at the Kennedy Center, Trump was more effusive in his praise of Netflix, calling it “a great company.”
"They’ve done a phenomenal job. Ted is a fantastic man,” he said of Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, noting that they met in the Oval Office last week before the deal was announced Dec. 5. "I have a lot of respect for him but it’s a lot of market share, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
Asked Sunday if Netflix should be allowed to buy the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max, the president said, “Well that's the question.”
“They have a very big market share and when they have Warner Bros., you know, that share goes up a lot so, I don’t know,” he said. "I'll be involved in that decision, too. But they have a very big market share.”
Sarandos made no guarantees at their meeting about the merger if it is approved, Trump said, adding that the CEO is a “great person” who has “done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things.”
He repeated that a merger would create a “big market share” for the company.
“There’s no question about it. It could be a problem,” Trump said.
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Associated Press writer John Carucci contributed to this report.