Trump Bought Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Bonds After Merger Was Announced

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

President Donald Trump bought large chunks of debt tied to Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery in the days after the two companies unveiled their blockbuster $83 billion merger, placing the White House in an awkward financial overlap with a deal his own administration may soon be asked to approve.

A financial disclosure released this week revealed Trump acquired up to $1 million in corporate bonds from Netflix and a similar amount from entities linked to WBD, according to The Hollywood Reporter, shortly after the agreement was announced. The purchases were split across two December transactions and disclosed in broad value ranges, rather than exact figures.

While bonds are not shares and do not convey ownership or voting power, they do make the holder a creditor and someone who profits when a company remains solvent and stable. The distinction may be cold comfort if the Netflix–WBD deal heads toward regulatory scrutiny.

Any final decision would likely involve the Department of Justice, which would assess whether the merger harms competition.

The White House has previously said the president’s bond purchases are handled by an independent financial adviser, and that is likely the case here. Still, the disclosure shows a president financially entangled, however passively, with the companies even while ally Larry Ellison is backing his son, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, in pursuing a hostile takeover of WBD.

The timing of the purchase is notable given Trump’s personal engagement with the media executives involved. He met Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos shortly before the deal was announced, later calling him “a fantastic man.” Yet Trump also reposted an article on Truth Social this past week that was sharply critical of the merger titled: “Stop the Netflix Cultural Takeover.”

Asked about that post by The Hollywood Reporter, Sarandos said: “I don’t know why he would have done that… No conversation we ever had was about any of the things that were in that article that he posted. I don’t want to overread it, either.”

Beyond Netflix and WBD, Trump’s disclosure lists dozens of other bond purchases, including debt issued by General Motors, Boeing, and Macy’s, alongside municipal bonds from states and cities nationwide.

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