President Donald Trump made a stunning claim about a mega media merger that was announced last week during a brief question-and-answer session during The Kennedy Center Honors event on Sunday.
Trump took questions from the red carpet as he and First Lady Melania Trump arrived at The Kennedy Center on Sunday. A couple of reporters asked him about the recently announced $72 billion merger between Netflix and Warner Brothers. Experts have said the merger would make Netflix the largest media company in the U.S., and some have raised concerns about Netflix becoming a monopoly if the deal is approved.
"What about Netflix and Warner Brothers?" the reporter asked.
"Well, that's gotta go through a process," Trump said. "Netflix is a great company...but it's a lot of market share, so we'll have to see what happens."
"Should they be allowed to buy Warner Brothers?" another reporter asked.
"They have a very big market share and when they have Warner Brothers you know that share goes up a lot, so, I don't know, that's going to be for some economists," Trump said. "I'll be involved in that decision, too."
On Friday, Netflix agreed to buy Warner Brothers' film and streaming businesses for $72 billion, which the company argued would create more opportunities for Hollywood creators, CNN reported.
Experts said the deal looks "challengeable" because of the market share the Netflix would own following the merger, CNN reported.