Trump buys $1m in Netflix and Warner Bros bonds days after saying he’ll ‘be involved’ in merger

Donald Trump bought at least $1m worth of bonds in Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), according to a financial disclosure form, days after he said would “be involved” in a proposed merger between the two companies.

The White House released a financial disclosure report on Friday which showed that Trump made two purchases from Netflix and two purchases from WBD, each amounting to at least $502,000.

Trump bought the bonds on 12 December and 16 December, a little more than a week after Netflix agreed to buy WDB in an $82.7bn deal.

The purchase is subject to regulatory clearance and is sure to raise eyebrows given Trump has said he will be engaged in that process.

“They have a very big market share,” Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center on 7 December, two days after the deal was announced and five days before he began to purchase Netflix and WBD bonds.

“When they have Warner Bros, that share goes up a lot. So, I don’t know. That’s going to be for some economists to tell and also – and I’ll be involved in that decision too. But they have a very big market share.”

The next day, Paramount Skydance launched a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid, financially backed by its chief executive officer, David Ellison, and his father, the billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison. Both men are friendly with the Trump administration.

The Netflix-WBD deal has faced backlash from US politicians, with US senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts calling it “an anti-monopoly nightmare” in a statement shortly after the announcement.

The deal, which would bring shows such as Game of Thrones into Netflix’s streaming library, was also criticized by the Writers Guild of America, which said it would “would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers”.

Trump bought about $100m in municipal and corporate bonds from mid-November to late December, Friday’s financial disclosure showed. He previously bought more than $100m in company, state and municipal bonds during the first six months of his second term, including bonds in Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions from the Guardian. However, an unnamed administration official reportedly told the Washington Post that Trump’s “stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions”.

The official reportedly added: “Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold.”