When the Netflix bid for part of Warner Bros business hit the headlines, I wondered why Donald Trump warned of problems with the takeover bid.

On Monday, it emerged that Paramount Studios was launching a competing hostile bid financed by a consortium of various parties, sourced in the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s finance vehicle was also a key mover of the Paramount bid.

Trump stated on Sunday that he would be personally involved in making the decision on the Netflix bid. But he then told reporters on Monday that he had not spoken with Kushner about Warner Bros Discovery, adding that neither Netflix nor Paramount “are friends of mine”.

Would anyone be surprised if the greedy, amoral occupant of the White House sought to determine personally whether his son-in-law, Kushner, should be part of a successful bid – which, one way or the other, has major implications for diversity in US media........

© The Irish Times