President Trump purchased up to $2 million of Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery bonds in December in the days after the streaming giant agreed to buy Warner's studios and HBO Max streaming business for $72 billion.
A financial disclosure form released by the White House showed that Trump bought between $250,001 and $500,000 of Netflix bonds on Dec. 12, and again on Dec. 16. He also bought bonds valued in that range for Discovery Communications LLC, a Warner subsidiary, on the same dates.
The disclosure form was dated Jan. 14, with a list of 191 bond purchase and sale transactions, including municipal bonds and debt for CoreWeave, Victoria's Secret, Boeing, Macy's and other companies.
The form didn't disclose if an outside firm executed the trades on Trump's behalf. The transactions weren't given exact values, but the disclosure form provided ranges; some were in the $15,001 to $50,000 band, while at the high end, others were listed in the range of just over $1 million to $5 million.
The White House didn't respond to requests for comment. Netflix and Warner declined to comment. The White House has previously said there are no conflicts of interest between Trump's role as president and his family's sprawling business empire, many pieces of which are held in the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. The president is its main beneficiary, while his son Don Jr. has voting power.
Trump has made public comments about a potential Warner acquisition, saying in December that Netflix's proposed purchase "could be a problem" because it already holds a large share of the streaming market. The deal would require approval from federal regulators. "I'll be involved in that decision," he said of the deal on Dec. 7, just days after the Netflix deal was announced.
Trump has also said that Warner's CNN, a frequent target of his ire, should change ownership. Netflix's deal for Warner doesn't include CNN or other cable networks. "I think it's imperative that CNN be sold," Trump told reporters last month.
Paramount Skydance Corp and Netflix have been dueling for rival media company Warner. Netflix is preparing to make its bid all-cash to make it more attractive to shareholders. Paramount -- run by David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison -- has made multiple bids for all of Warner, including the cable networks. Those overtures have been rebuffed. After the Netflix deal was announced, Paramount launched a hostile takeover offer for Warner.
Warner has recommended that shareholders reject Paramount's hostile $77.9 billion all-cash bid for the entire company. Its board chairman said Paramount's bid provides "insufficient value" and relies on "an extraordinary amount of debt financing."
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