US President Donald Trump has flagged potential issues over Netflix’s deliberate $72bn (£54bn) deal to purchase Warner Brothers Discovery’s film studio and well-liked HBO streaming networks.
At an occasion in Washington DC on Sunday, he mentioned Netflix has a “big market share” and the companies’ mixed measurement “could be a problem”.
On Friday, the 2 corporations mentioned they’d reached an settlement that would carry Warner Brothers’ franchises like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones to Netflix, creating a brand new media large.
The deliberate deal, which has raised issues amongst some within the business, is but to be accepted by competitors authorities. The BBC has contacted Warner Brothers, Netflix and the White House for remark.
The US Justice Department’s competitors division, which oversees main mergers, might contend that the deal violates the regulation if the mixed companies account for an excessive amount of of the streaming market.
At an occasion on the Kennedy Center within the US capital, Trump mentioned that Netflix has a “very big market share” which might “go up by a lot” if the deal goes forward.
Trump added that he could be personally concerned within the resolution on whether or not or to not approve the deal and repeatedly highlighted the scale of Netflix’s market share.
He additionally mentioned that Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos lately visited the Oval Office and praised him for his work on the firm.
“I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a great person,” mentioned Trump. “He’s done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies.”
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