Trump Sounds Alarm On Netflix'S $72 Billion Hollywood Power Play

A Hollywood Shake-Up: Trump Weighs In

A colossal Hollywood deal is under the microscope as President Donald Trump throws a curveball, questioning Netflix’s grand $72 billion plan to take over Warner Brothers Discovery. This political twist adds a new layer of drama to a merger already under intense industry and regulatory scrutiny.

On a brisk Sunday in Washington D.C., Trump voiced his concerns about Netflix’s ‘big market share’ and hinted that the merger's sheer scale ‘could be a problem,’ reports the BBC.

“The scale of this merger is something that could reshape Hollywood as we know it,” insiders whisper nervously from Tinseltown.

Mounting Pressure: Franchises on the Move

The mega-deal, announced last Friday, promises to shift Warner Brothers’ iconic franchises – think Harry Potter and Game of Thrones – into Netflix's formidable streaming arsenal, creating a potential media titan.

With Warner Bros gearing up for a business split by late 2026, regulators are on alert, assessing whether such a union could violate US antitrust laws if the combined entity becomes too dominant. Rumor has it, the Justice Department might just step in if they sense the competitive scales tipping too far.

Presidential Influence and Industry Response

At the John F. Kennedy Center, Trump underscored concerns about Netflix's massive market reach, noting it would ‘go up by a lot’ post-merger. This could signal unprecedented presidential involvement in the usually technical realm of merger reviews.

Trump wasn't shy about his recent Oval Office meeting with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. "I have a lot of respect for him," Trump remarked. "He’s a great person... He’s done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies."

But not everyone’s clapping. Netflix’s rivals, from Comcast to Paramount Skydance, were left in the dust, as Netflix clinched the deal. The Writers Guild of America is on edge, imploring regulators to halt the merger, fearing that the world's largest streaming behemoth absorbing a major competitor could spell doom for content diversity and pricing.

In this high-stakes game of power and influence, Hollywood waits with bated breath to see if Trump’s intervention will set the stage for a new act.