President Donald Trump acquired corporate bonds from Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix valued at as much as $1 million shortly after the two entertainment titans revealed plans for a colossal $83 billion merger, according to a recent White House financial disclosure.
Details of the Bond Purchases
The disclosure, released late on Thursday, 15 January 2026, shows the president made a series of significant bond acquisitions in November and December. Specifically, Trump purchased two tranches of Netflix bonds, each valued between $250,001 and $500,000, on 12 December and 16 December. He executed identical purchases of Warner Bros. Discovery bonds on the same two dates.
These transactions occurred in the wake of the landmark deal announcement on 5 December, which would see the streaming pioneer Netflix acquire most of WBD's assets, including the Warner studio and HBO. The deal also involves spinning off major cable channels like CNN into a separate entity.
A Broader Pattern of Investment
The bonds from the media giants were part of a much larger financial activity. The disclosure form listed nearly 200 transactions totalling well over $100 million in corporate and municipal bonds acquired during the two-month period. Other prominent companies in which Trump purchased debt securities included SiriusXM, Boeing, Macy's, and General Motors.
A White House official, speaking to Bloomberg, stated that the investment decisions were made by independent financial advisors and not by the Trump family directly. This mirrors the explanation given for a similar disclosure released in August of the previous year.
Political and Corporate Crosscurrents
The financial moves intersect with a fierce corporate battle and notable political connections. Paramount Global, led by David Ellison—son of Oracle founder and noted Trump ally Larry Ellison—has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount has sued WBD, seeking more information on how it values the cable assets being spun off.
David Ellison, who has reportedly promised Trump "sweeping changes" at CNN if his bid succeeds, argues these assets have minimal value. Meanwhile, Trump has publicly praised Ellison as "great" and applauded a conservative shift at Paramount-owned CBS News.
Despite his recent cordial meeting with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, whom he called a "fantastic man," Trump shared an article from the far-right outlet One America News on Truth Social. The article criticised the Netflix-Warner merger as creating a "woke media monopoly." When questioned about the post, Sarandos told the New York Times he did not know why the president would have shared it.
Trump has also stated he will be heavily involved in the regulatory approval process for the WBD-Netflix deal, adding a further layer of political scrutiny to the already complex corporate manoeuvring.
