President Donald Trump purchased at least $500,000 worth of bonds from both Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery less than two weeks after the companies agreed to buy WB’s studios and streaming operations.
Trump purchased between $250,001 and $500,000 of Netflix bonds in two separate installments, on Dec. 12 and Dec. 16, according to a financial disclosure statement released by the White House on Friday. On the same day, he also purchased a similar range of bonds from Discovery Communications (a subsidiary of WBD). President Trump’s financial disclosures cover transactions from mid-November to late December.
On December 5th, Netflix and WBD announced an $82.7 billion enterprise deal. Under the terms, the streaming giant would acquire WB Studios, HBO and HBO Max, and its gaming group, but not WBD’s television network, which would be spun off into a new company, Discovery Global, to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders in the third quarter of 2026.
Trump’s financial disclosures released through the U.S. Office of Government Ethics show that most of his acquisitions came from municipal bonds from cities, local school districts, utilities and hospitals. He also bought bonds from other companies, including SiriusXM, Boeing, GM, Macy’s, Occidental Petroleum and Whirlpool.
According to the White House, Trump’s financial portfolio is managed independently by a third-party financial institution, and neither Trump nor any member of his family has the ability to direct, influence or provide input on how the portfolio is invested, Reuters reported.
In December, President Trump met with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at the White House to discuss the Discovery deal with Warner Bros. Speaking to reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., last month, President Trump said that Netflix’s deal to acquire Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming business needed to be reviewed, adding, “I will be involved in that decision.” He also said that Netflix’s combined market share with WB and HBO Max “could be an issue.”
Also last month, President Trump said CNN should be sold as part of an overall sale or sold separately as part of “any deal” with WBD. “I think CNN should be sold because I think the people who are currently running it are either corrupt or incompetent,” he said. President Trump said he doesn’t want current CNN management to get anything in return by being able to continue operating the network “with money” from the contract.
Meanwhile, Netflix and WBD are facing pressure from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance. The company is staging a hostile takeover attempt to convince WBD shareholders that its offer of $30 per share is better than Netflix’s terms. Paramount is suing Warner Bros. Discovery, seeking financial information including a valuation of the Discovery Global spinoff, and said it would launch a proxy fight to install a director on WBD’s board who accepts the proposal.
Asked at a White House briefing on Dec. 8 whether he supported Paramount’s rival bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Trump said, “I don’t know enough about that,” adding that the company needs to consider how each proposed deal would affect the market share of Netflix and Paramount Skydance. He added, “I mean, none of them are particularly great friends of mine.”
On Sunday, January 11, President Trump posted (without comment) on his Truth Social account a link to an OAN opinion piece titled “Stop Netflix’s Cultural Hijack,” in which he claimed that Netflix “has repeatedly used its global platform to elevate progressive narratives while suppressing dissent.” The essay also states that if Netflix completes its deal with WBD, the streaming company “will become the most dominant cultural gatekeeper the United States, and much of the world, has ever seen.”
In an interview with The New York Times published Friday, Netflix co-chief executive officer Ted Sarandos was asked about Trump’s opinion piece, saying, “I don’t know why he did it. We’ve never had a single conversation about what he posted. I don’t want to read too much into it.”
