As Paramount and Netflix square off over ownership of Warner Bros Discovery, another institution is girding for the battle: the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump on Sunday said he “would be involved” in the decision over who ultimately buys WBD, setting off speculation about which buyer the president may favour, with the potential to influence the outcome through the justice department’s antitrust powers.
Paramount’s David Ellison has long been seen as holding the antitrust edge, partly thanks to his father Larry Ellison, the billionaire Oracle founder and Trump ally. That perception was reinforced after it emerged this week that the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is among the financial backers for Paramount’s bid.
That political dividend seemed apparent on Sunday, a day before Paramount launched its $108bn hostile play for WBD. At the Kennedy Center, Trump cast doubt on Netflix’s $83bn offer, noting the streamer already commands “a very big market share and when they have Warner Brothers that share goes up a lot”. He added: “It could be a problem.”
But the president quickly softened the jab, saying “some economists” would have to judge Netflix’s dominance, adding he had just met Ted Sarandos, the company’s chief executive, at the White House and called him a “great person” who has done “one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies”.
Trump’s unusually measured tone carried into Monday, after Paramount went hostile. “I know the companies very well . . . but I have to see what percentage of [the] market they have,” he said, adding: “None of them are particularly great friends of mine. I want to do what is right.”
An administration official said it would be a mistake to assume either buyer had a lead simply because the president likes them, stressing that non-competition factors, including job preservation, could matter.
Both deals are set to raise antitrust concerns, legal experts said.
Netflix’s dominance in streaming is expected to be central if it buys WBD, which owns HBO and Discovery Plus. Globally, Netflix has 302mn paying subscribers, while WBD has 128mn and Paramount has 79mn, according to company data.
Combining WBD with Netflix would further bolster its position as the biggest global player in streaming — traditionally a major regulatory red flag. Netflix argues it faces robust competition, not just from legacy studios but also social media rivals such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Ellison maintains his offer comes with no such concerns. “Our deal is completely pro-competitive, it’s pro-creative talent, it’s pro-consumer as opposed to the combination with Netflix, [which] would give them such a scale that it would be bad for Hollywood and bad for the consumer and is anti-competitive.”
Netflix’s role in producing and distributing content also gives its proposed transaction elements of a “vertical merger”, experts said. The DoJ challenged such deals in Trump’s first term. In 2017, the justice department launched a rare vertical challenge to AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner (the department lost in court).
Paramount may face less scrutiny combining smaller streaming assets with WBD, but could raise risks by merging two major studios. Ellison has dismissed those risks, and numerous rival studios remain. A CBS/CNN combination is likewise seen as unlikely to cause major issues.
State attorneys-general, increasingly active in antitrust enforcement, could jump in, especially if they deem federal scrutiny insufficient. Asked about the potential deals, a spokesperson for the California attorney-general told the Financial Times that “further consolidation in markets that are central to American economic life — whether in the financial, airline, grocery or broadcasting and entertainment markets — does not serve the American economy, consumers or competition well”.
The justice department declined to comment.
Netflix’s offer is also expected to face intense scrutiny in Europe given its projected streaming dominance. Lawmakers are pressing Brussels to launch an in-depth probe into media concentration and platform power. And while Paramount’s political links may help in Washington, they could hurt in Brussels amid strained transatlantic ties.
Paramount’s offer would also face scrutiny, with a focus on its sports rights and advertising concentration. In Europe WBD holds Eurosport and the Olympics, as well as TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland. Paramount has the rights to the Uefa Champions League in several countries, including the UK starting in 2027.
Andreas Schwab, a senior European parliament voice on competition, said the EU “should take a very close look at how the transaction might influence market access, licensing practices and the bargaining position of European content creators” and whether the merged entity could squeeze smaller rivals.
Weaker US/EU antitrust alignment under Trump’s second presidency could complicate co-operative enforcement.
Bill Baer, former head of the DoJ’s antitrust unit under ex-president Barack Obama, said: “The messaging out of the Trump administration is that ‘we want decisions we make about US interest including within the antitrust sphere to be accepted as the outcome that other competition authorities should accept as well’.”
To Zephyr Teachout, professor at Fordham School of Law, leaving these bids unchecked could have catastrophic consequences. “Concentration is troubling in any realm . . . but it’s especially dangerous when it comes to media,” she said. “We are talking about the lifeblood of our culture being concentrated. It’s really really dystopian.”
She added: “The more concentrated media markets, the more the government can plausibly exercise control over the viewpoints that are shared.” Both deals raise “antitrust and democracy red flags”.
Additional reporting Arash Massoudi in London
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