President Donald Trump heaped praise on Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, calling him a “fantastic man,” and celebrated the huge success of his company, while also warning that a potential merger between Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of its extremely high market share. To be frank, Netflix buying out Warner Bros. Discovery would absolutely devastate the art of filmmaking.
This disaster looms largely because of the methodical, analytics-driven approach the company takes to producing films and series. Rather than take creative risks, Sarandos and Netflix executives hedge their bets by only approving projects that line up with their analytical data. Imagine a young George Lucas pitching Star Wars to Netflix today. Because it likely wouldn’t match the analytics, the company would reject it. What a major cultural loss that would be. The impact would be incalculable.
Sure, such a strategy might shrink losses when certain films don’t deliver desired results, but the contribution to the art by taking risks on lesser-known directors and writers still matters enormously. Risk-taking could also help conservative filmmakers, as platforms like Netflix would be far more willing to take on projects that appeal to demographics hungry for that kind of content.
Trump, chatting with reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors event in our nation’s capital, confirmed that he already met with Sarandos ahead of negotiations between Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. He went on to say that the deal “could be a problem” because of looming antitrust challenges.
.@POTUS on the Netflix deal to acquire Warner Bros.: “That’s gotta go through a process, and we’ll see what happens. Netflix is a great company… but it’s a lot of market share, so we’ll have to see what happens.” pic.twitter.com/8xolClLqCn
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 7, 2025
“I’ll be involved in that decision,” President Trump said, adding that the $83 billion offer Netflix made for Warner Bros. will “go through a process” to “see what happens.”
“I have a lot of respect for him, but it’s a lot of market share,” Trump told the press. “He’s a great person… He’s got a lot of interesting things happening aside from what you’re talking about, but it is a big market share. There’s no question about it. It could be a problem.”
In a call with Wall Street investors last Friday, Sarandos said he expects the deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to close in 12–18 months.
“We feel really confident that we’re going to get all the necessary approvals we need,” Sarandos told investors. “This deal is pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker, it’s pro-creator, it’s pro-growth.”
Sarandos also told President Trump during their meeting that “even combined with Warner Bros. and HBO Max, Netflix would grow to be about as big as Google’s YouTube in the U.S. — and would still have less TV market share than other media conglomerates.”
Paramount, another major player fighting to acquire Warner Bros., blasted the deal, arguing that the sales process is unfair and claiming that “management conflicts” and “potential personal interests” taint the process because of “economic incentives embedded in recent amendments to employment arrangements.”
Warner Bros. Discovery pushed back and stated that its board “fulfills its fiduciary obligations with the utmost care, has fully and robustly complied with them, and will continue to do so.”
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