Trump bought bonds in Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery after announcing the deal

President Donald Trump bought at least $500,000 worth of bonds in both Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery within two weeks of the two companies’ deal, which will see Netflix acquire WB’s studios and streaming businesses.

According to a financial disclosure form released by the White House on Friday, Trump purchased between $250,001 and $500,000 in Netflix debt securities on two separate dates, December 12 and 16. He also purchased the same series of bonds for Discovery Communications (a subsidiary of WBD) on the same dates. Trump’s financial disclosure covered transactions from mid-November to the end of December.

On December 5, Netflix and WBD announced an $82.7 billion business deal. Under those terms, the streaming giant would acquire WB’s studios, HBO and HBO Max, and its games group, but not any of WBD’s TV networks, which would be spun off into a new entity, Discovery Global, to Warner Bros. shareholders in the third quarter of 2026. Discovery.

Financial disclosures about Trump, released through the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, show that most of his purchases were 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 independently managed by outside financial institutions – and neither Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence or provide input on how the portfolio is invested, Reuters reported.

In December, Trump met with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at the White House to discuss the Warner Bros. Discovery deal to discuss. Speaking to reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC last month, Trump said Netflix’s deal to acquire Warner Bros. studios and streaming operations will require a review, saying: “I will be involved in that decision.” He also said that the market share of a combined Netflix with WB and HBO Max “could be an issue.”

Also last month, Trump said that as part of “any deal” for WBD, CNN should be sold as part of an overall sale or sold separately. “I think I think CNN should be sold because I think the people running CNN now” are corrupt or incompetent, he said. Trump said he did not want current CNN management to be rewarded by being allowed to continue running the network “with money” from a deal.

Meanwhile, Netflix and WBD are facing pressure from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, which is launching a hostile takeover bid in an attempt to convince WBD shareholders that its $30 per share offer is superior to Netflix’s terms. Paramount has acquired Warner Bros. Discovery sued, in an effort to force it to provide financial information including how it values ​​the Discovery Global spinoff, saying it will start a proxy war to install directors on WBD’s board who are receptive to the offer.

Trump, who asked at a White House briefing on December 8 whether he was in favor of Paramount’s rival bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, said: “I don’t know enough about it,” and said he had to look at how any proposed deal would affect Netflix and Paramount Skydance’s market share. He added, “I mean, none of them are particularly good friends of mine.”

On Sunday, January 11, Trump posted on his Truth Social account (without comment) a link to an OAN op-ed titled “Stop the Netflix Cultural Takeover,” which claimed in part that Netflix “has repeatedly used its global platform to elevate progressive narratives while suppressing dissenting viewpoints.” The essay also said 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.”

Asked about Trump’s posting of the op-ed, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said, in a interview with the New York Times published Friday, said: “I don’t know why he would have done that. Not a single conversation we ever had was about the things that were in that article he posted. I don’t want to read too much into it either.”