• Dec. 7, 2025, 9:46 PM EST / Updated Dec. 7, 2025,…
  • Trump says Netflix-Warner Bros. deal could be a…
  • Trump: Netflix-Warner Bros. deal ‘could be a problem'
  • Dec. 7, 2025, 8:34 PM ESTBy Steve KopackPresident…

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Trump: Netflix-Warner Bros. deal ‘could be a problem'

admin - Latest News - December 8, 2025
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As he walked the red carpet ahead of the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, President Donald Trump said the merger between Netflix and Warner Bros. “could be a problem.” Trump also said he will be part of the approval process.



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Dec. 7, 2025, 8:34 PM ESTBy Steve KopackPresident Donald Trump said Sunday that the proposed $72 billion merger between Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the amount of market share the resulting company would have.The value of the deal balloons to more than $82 billion when debt is accounted for.Netflix said Friday it would purchase Warner Bros. Discovery’s film studio, HBO and the streaming service HBO Max. If the deal is approved, Netflix would also get access to decades of films and shows in the Warner Bros. Pictures archive. The deal would not include cable networks owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, such as CNN and TNT.Trump expressed some skepticism Sunday about the prospects of approval.”Well, that’s got to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters as he walked the Kennedy Center Awards’ red carpet in Washington.”They have a very big market share,” Trump said of Netflix. “When they have Warner Bros., that share goes up a lot.”Netflix, which has more than 300 million subscribers, is the No. 1 streaming service. Warner’s HBO Max is ranked slightly lower.Trump said he would consult “some economists” before the deal get his stamp of approval. “I’ll be involved in that decision, too,” he said. Historically, presidents have not often gotten involved in antitrust approvals when companies seek to merge. Neither Netflix nor Warner Bros. own any broadcast stations, so the deal would not require approval by Federal Communications Commission. However, it may still require approval by the Justice Department’s antitrust division. The deal is also likely to require approval from the European Commission and other governments around the world.during his two terms in office, Trump has dramatically reshaped the ways corporate America deals with the federal government. Earlier Sunday, Bloomberg News reported that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos visited Trump at the White House in mid-November to discuss the potential deal. Sarandos’ visit echoed the strategy of other many other corporate executives, who have often tried to get on Trump’s good side before making major announcements, doing deals or seeking relief from government regulations or tariffs.Sarandos was left with the impression that Netflix would not face immediate opposition from the White House, the Bloomberg report said.On Sunday, Trump confirmed he had met with Sarandos.”I met with Ted. I think he’s fantastic,” he told reporters. “He was in the Oval Office last week,” Trump continued, adding that Sarandos made no promises at the meeting.Trump also compared Netflix’s success to that of the famed MGM film studio, which Amazon now owns. Amazon purchased the studio during the Biden administration, which did not challenge the takeover.The Trump administration in July approved the billion-dollar merger of Paramount Global with film studio Skydance. However, the approval only came after a contentious back-and-forth with the government and Trump himself. Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to Trump’s future presidential library over an interview CBS News conducted with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump alleged the interview featuring Harris, who ran against Trump for the presidency, was edited deceptively. Paramount also agreed with Trump’s FCC to end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs and create an ombudsman at CBS News. Many industry analysts expect Netflix to argue that it competes against Google’s YouTube for market share. YouTube is often ranked as the most-used streaming app by U.S. consumers.Netflix’s deal announcement also drew scrutiny Friday from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Banking subcommittee on consumer protection who established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who called it an “anti-monopoly nightmare.” Steve KopackSteve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.
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Trump says Netflix-Warner Bros. deal could be a problem
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Sept. 25, 2025, 11:52 AM EDT / Updated Sept. 25, 2025, 3:36 PM EDTBy Steve KopackA group of the country’s top economic leaders, including every living former Federal Reserve chair, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on Thursday in support of Fed governor Lisa Cook, who President Donald Trump is seeking to remove.The group, led former central bank chiefs Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen, said that “allowing the removal of Governor Lisa D. Cook while the challenge to her removal is pending would threaten that independence and erode public confidence in the Fed.” The bipartisan group, which also includes former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Hank Paulson, Jack Lew and Timothy Geithner, added that “the independence of the Federal Reserve, within the limited authority granted by Congress to achieve the goals Congress itself has set, is a critical feature of our national monetary system.”As the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve is part of the U.S. government and its leaders are put in place by elected officials, but it also retains a considerable amount of independence that is meant to allow it to make decisions purely out of economic concerns rather than political ones. The former economic officials said that an erosion of Fed independence could result “in substantial long-term harm and inferior economic performance overall.”The Supreme Court is considering whether Trump has the authority to fire Cook, who has been a target for the White House for weeks as part of a broader pressure campaign to push the Fed to more aggressively cut interest rates.Cook’s attempted removal stems from allegations of mortgage fraud, made in August by top Trump ally and Federal Housing Finance Authority Director Bill Pulte.Cook has repeatedly denied the allegations and has not been charged with any crime. Documents reviewed by NBC News in mid-September appeared to contradict Pulte’s allegations.Two courts have so far blocked Cook’s removal, leading Trump to ask the Supreme Court a week ago to allow him to fire her. In a court filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said a judge’s ruling that blocked the firing constituted “improper judicial interference.”In a filing to the Supreme Court on Thursday, Cook’s lawyers said that “she committed neither ‘fraud’ nor ‘gross negligence’ in relation to her mortgages.”Cook asked the court to deny Trump’s attempt to remove her while the case is argued. The White House has repeatedly maintained that Trump “lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause.”The brief filed Thursday is a who’s who of the country’s top economic minds. Former Fed governor Dan Tarullo is also listed as a signatory to the brief, as well as the economists Ken Rogoff, Phil Gramm and John Cochrane.Glenn Hubbard, Greg Mankiw, Christina Romer, Cecilia Rouse, Jared Bernstein and Jason Furman, a group who served as top officials on the White House’s council of economic advisers during Republican and Democrat administrations, also signed the brief.None of the officials who signed the filing have served in either of Trump’s administrations.Lisa Cook is sworn in during a Senate Banking hearing in 2023.Drew Angerer / Getty Images fileTrump is the first president in U.S. history to try to remove a sitting Fed official. “There is broad consensus among economists, based on decades of macroeconomic research, that a more independent central bank will lead to lower and more stable inflation without creating higher unemployment — thus helping to achieve the Federal Reserve’s statutory objective of price stability and maximum employment,” the officials said in the brief.”The Federal Reserve walks a careful line in pursuit of its goals.”They noted that “elected officials often favor lowering interest rates to boost employment, particularly leading up to an election.””Although that approach may satisfy voters temporarily, it does not lead to lasting gains for unemployment or growth and can instead lead to persistently higher inflation in the long-term and thus ultimately harm the national economy.”The former Fed chairs and economic officials, in their filing, highlight a notorious case of political pressure on the Fed: “In the early 1970s, President Richard Nixon famously exerted political pressure over then-Chair of the Fed Arthur Burns to lower unemployment by reducing interest rates. During this period ‘the Fed made only limited efforts to maintain policy independence and, for doctrinal as well as political reasons, enabled a decade of high and volatile inflation.’ This contributed to an ‘inflationary boom’ and deep recession that took years to bring back under control.”Steve KopackSteve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.Lawrence Hurley contributed.
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