The political and media worlds were already rattled after President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he planned to “be involved” in the government’s decision on whether Netflix should be allowed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. By Monday, the situation had escalated further, with news that the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was involved.
Paramount Skydance, itself a major entertainment conglomerate, unveiled a hostile takeover bid of 108 billion dollars for WBD. Within hours, news broke that Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, is one of the financiers behind Paramount’s offer.
Axios reports that Paramount is actively pitching shareholders on the idea that its bid will face fewer government hurdles than Netflix’s, a claim strengthened by the Ellison family’s close ties to Trump. Paramount CEO David Ellison is the son of billionaire Trump backer Larry Ellison.
Yet Paramount’s official press release never mentioned Kushner or the sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar that are also involved. That omission raised red flags immediately.
Fortune followed with another eyebrow-raising detail: Affinity and the foreign investors have agreed to give up any governance rights. Paramount says the structure keeps the deal out of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ jurisdiction.
Axios’ Sarah Fischer didn’t buy the logic. She pointed out that no major investor walks into a deal of this size with zero oversight unless what they’re really after is influence, not control on paper. In her view, the takeover attempt demonstrates how easily the U.S. system can be manipulated when shareholders are tempted by the highest financial offer, even if it opens the door to foreign power and political insiders.
The criticism came fast:
Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that Trump’s promise to “be involved” in the Netflix–WBD decision sounded like a public invitation for companies to curry presidential favor to get their mergers approved, saying these decisions must be made independently by the Department of Justice.
Journalist Sophia A. Nelson called the situation “ridiculous” and “corrupt,” adding that this is not the kind of matter a president should inject himself into.
Investor Adam Cochran was even more blunt: Trump is attacking the Netflix bid while his son-in-law helps finance the rival offer. To him, it’s “the most corrupt administration in U.S. history.”
Former NSC official Alexander Vindman warned that Kushner’s involvement could effectively deliver CNN, none of WBD’s crown jewels, “to MAGA.”
And NewsNation’s Kurt Bardella put the conflict-of-interest question in simple terms: “Alexa, what is a conflict of interest?”
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