By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump mentioned Sunday {that a} deal struck by Netflix to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery “might be an issue” due to the dimensions of the mixed market share.
“There’s no query about it,” Trump mentioned, answering questions in regards to the deal and numerous different matters as he walked the pink carpet on the Kennedy Middle Honors.
The Republican president mentioned he can be concerned within the choice about whether or not the federal authorities ought to approve the $72 billion deal. If authorised by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s largest streaming providers beneath the identical possession and be a part of Warner’s tv and movement image division, together with DC Studios, with Netflix’s huge library and its manufacturing arm.
The deal, which might reshape the leisure trade, has to “undergo a course of and we’ll see what occurs,” Trump mentioned.
“Netflix is a superb firm. They’ve executed an exceptional job. Ted is a unbelievable man,” he mentioned of Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, noting that they met within the Oval Workplace final week earlier than the deal was introduced Dec. 5. “I’ve quite a lot of respect for him nevertheless it’s quite a lot of market share, so we’ll must see what occurs.”
Requested if Netflix ought to be allowed to purchase the Hollywood big behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max, the president mentioned, “Nicely that’s the query.”
“They’ve a really huge market share and after they have Warner Bros., you recognize, that share goes up lots so, I don’t know,” he mentioned. “I’ll be concerned in that call, too. However they’ve a really huge market share”
Sarandos made no ensures at their assembly in regards to the merger whether it is authorised, Trump mentioned, including that the CEO is a “nice individual” who has “executed one of many biggest jobs within the historical past of films and different issues.”
He repeated {that a} merger would create a “huge market share” for the corporate.
“There’s no query about it. It might be an issue,” Trump mentioned.
Related Press author John Carucci contributed to this report.