The presumption was that Trump would be great for business. Not even three months into the Trump presidency, that belief is being pretty thoroughly tested.

Since the introduction of his tariffs last Wednesday, the S&P 500 plummeted nearly 11% – wiping $5.2 trillion off the stock index. For media, it’s not only tariffs but also changes in the regulatory environment that are having a detrimental impact.

(Midjourney)

It’s difficult watching this from Australia, where we have little power but will feel the shockwaves.

There had been an optimism felt by those in the media industry that they could finally move forward with M&A activity that they had kept on the back-burner as they waited out Biden’s chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Kahn.

Back in November, Warner Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav told investors during a quarterly earnings call that the win for Trump “may offer a pace of change and an opportunity for consolidation that may be quite different, that would provide a real positive and accelerated impact on this industry that’s needed.”

Instead, media companies........

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