The latest U.S. government financial disclosures indicate President Donald Trump acquired significant holdings in corporate debt for both Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery during the recent takeover contest.
According to the filings, the president purchased more than $500,000 of Netflix bonds in two trades on December 12 and December 16, and then bought an additional more than $600,000 across two further transactions on January 2 and January 20. The disclosure provided ranges rather than exact numbers, listing the Netflix purchases collectively as between just over $1.1 million and $2.25 million.
Those Netflix bonds carry a 5.375% coupon and mature in November 2029. The filings do not indicate whether the bonds were later sold, leaving it unclear whether the president realized a gain or loss on those holdings.
At the time of the initial December purchases, Netflix's bonds were trading at about $1.03 and $1.04 on the dollar, based on pricing data compiled by LSEG. The January purchases were made when the same issue was trading at about $1.04 and $1.03 on the dollar. The bonds were trading at $1.04 on the dollar on February 26 - the day before Netflix withdrew its bid for Warner Bros - and had moved back to $1.03 on the dollar as of the most recent Friday reported in the filings.
The disclosures also show purchases of Warner Bros debt. On December 12 and December 16, the president bought between $500,002 and $1 million in Warner Bros bonds in two trades. Those bonds were priced at 91.75 cents and 92 cents on the dollar when purchased and were recently trading at 95 cents on the dollar, which would put them "in the money" relative to the purchase prices if they were still held.
The bond purchases occurred amid an intense bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery that began after Netflix announced an acquisition effort. President Trump publicly questioned the merger's viability days after Netflix's bid was announced on December 5, saying the resulting concentration of market power "could be a problem." His remarks and statements from regulatory officials raised questions about whether such a deal would survive antitrust scrutiny. The administration also publicly pressured Netflix to remove board member Susan Rice.
Paramount Skydance took its hostile offer public on December 8, and the campaign escalated into a bidding contest between Paramount and Netflix. The transaction that ultimately prevailed will leave the combined company with roughly $85 billion of debt, according to the disclosures' account of the deal dynamics.
Paramount's winning bid was reported at about $110 billion, and the company is led by an executive who is the son of Larry Ellison, a Republican megadonor and ally of President Trump. Ellison personally guaranteed more than $40 billion, backed by his Oracle shares, to support the transaction.
Netflix withdrew its bid for Warner Bros around two weeks after Paramount's competing offer, and the Paramount transaction will be financed in part by $39 billion of new debt provided by Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo, according to the companies' announcement on February 27.
The filing that disclosed the president's purchases was among the latest required by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and is dated February 27; it was posted online the following week. The filings also note that Trump, historically a real estate investor, has reported more than $1 billion in assets on prior disclosure forms and maintains business interests spanning crypto, golf courses and licensing deals.
On the question of potential conflicts, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: "President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest." The disclosures also highlight that U.S. presidents are exempt from conflict-of-interest laws that restrict other executive branch officials from investing in companies with business before the government.
The filings do not resolve whether the disclosed bond purchases produced gains or losses for the president, as they do not disclose any subsequent sales or holdings beyond the ranges provided. They do, however, document that the purchases were made contemporaneously with public comments and regulatory scrutiny that could have affected the perceived viability of the corporate transactions in question.
Separately, the filings and announcements around the deal illustrate the heavy reliance on debt financing in the transaction that prevailed: the Paramount bid was backed by a substantial personal guarantee and a large package of new bank and institutional debt.
These disclosures add to the public record on how senior government figures' financial activities intersect with major corporate deals that draw regulatory and political attention.