President Donald Trump has stated he is withholding judgment on the hostile takeover bid by Paramount Skydance for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Netflix's proposed deal with WBD. During a White House briefing, Trump admitted he lacked sufficient information about the market share percentages of Paramount and Netflix but emphasized his desire "to do what's right."

Trump's comments came shortly after David Ellison's Paramount Skydance launched a direct-to-shareholders takeover effort for WBD, offering $30 per share, valuing the enterprise at $108.4 billion. This bid followed Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery's announcement of an $83.7 billion agreement, under which Netflix would acquire WB's studios, HBO, HBO Max, and games divisions.

The Paramount offer is financially backed by Larry Ellison, David Ellison's father, along with RedBird Capital Partners, the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners investment company. When questioned about his son-in-law Jared Kushner's involvement, Trump stated he had never discussed Paramount's WBD deal with him.

Despite his professed neutrality, Trump indicated his direct participation in the government's review of the Netflix-WBD deal. He recounted a recent Oval Office visit from Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who reportedly sought to reassure the president that a combined Netflix and WBD would not achieve monopoly power. While calling Sarandos "a fantastic man," Trump expressed concerns about the "lot of market share" Netflix would accumulate, suggesting it "could be a problem."

Trump's relationships with the involved parties are complex. He has described the Ellisons as "big supporters of mine" and publicly praised David Ellison's potential as CEO of a merged Skydance Media-Paramount. However, Trump recently lashed out at the Ellisons and Paramount over a "60 Minutes" segment featuring Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, criticizing the show's content and its new ownership. He also recalled that Paramount Global, to finalize its deal with Skydance Media, paid him $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a prior "60 Minutes" segment, where he accused the program of deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris.

While Trump's opposition would not automatically derail regulatory approval, his past actions provide context. During his first term, the Justice Department's attempt to block AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner on antitrust grounds was reportedly influenced by Trump's dislike of CNN, though a federal judge and appeals court ultimately ruled in favor of the companies.