Netflix<\/a> and create \u200ca media powerhouse.<\/p>\nParamount said its offer includes financing from Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners, along with financing from the Saudi and Qatari sovereign wealth funds and L’imad Holding Co., \u200cowned by Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
Trump told reporters on Monday that he has not spoken with Kushner about Warner Bros Discovery, adding that neither Netflix or Paramount “are friends of mine.” A day earlier, Trump said he would be involved in a decision on Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros studios and streaming assets.<\/p>\n
SUITORS TO FACE ANTITRUST SCRUTINY<\/p>\n
Both Paramount and Netflix are likely to face intense antitrust scrutiny to ensure consumers, rivals and suppliers are not hurt by any \u2060tie-up, giving the government a big say in \u200cwho ultimately buys Warner Bros Discovery.<\/p>\n
The extent of Trump’s involvement will be another test of how far the president – whose family business interests have grown while he has been in office this year – is prepared to go \u200din breaking conflict-of-interest norms.<\/p>\n
“If you were teaching a class at business school on conflicts of interest, this would be Exhibit A,” said Nell Minow, chair of Portland, Maine-based ValueEdge Advisors, adding Trump should recuse himself from any involvement in the deal clearance.<\/p>\n
Spokespeople for the White House and for Affinity Partners did not immediately respond \u200bto requests for comment.<\/p>\n
While U.S. presidents are exempt from the federal conflict of interest law, “normally, what we see is presidents separating themselves from \u200ctheir own businesses and going out of their way not to be involved with their family’s businesses to not have Americans questioning their actions,” said Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.<\/p>\n
The antitrust unit of the Justice Department will review the final deal for Warner Bros Discovery to ensure it does not harm competition in the media market, while keeping consumer prices in check and ensuring that advertisers have a fair marketplace.<\/p>\n
QUESTIONS RAISED BEFORE<\/p>\n
Kushner served as a White House adviser during Trump’s first term, and has continued to be involved in Middle East \u2060policy during Trump’s second administration, though he does not have an official title.<\/p>\n
Questions about \u200bwhether Kushner has benefited from his father-in-law’s presidency have been raised before.<\/p>\n
Trump this year \u200bproposed that the U.S. should clear the war-torn Gaza Strip and develop it as an international beach resort, echoing an idea floated by Kushner, who was a property developer in New York before Trump’s first term.<\/p>\n
Affinity Partners enjoyed a \u200dcash influx from Middle East investors \u2060last year, as Trump was seeking reelection.<\/p>\n
“The blurred line between running the government and the family’s business interests is expanding each day,” said Scott Amey, general counsel with public interest group Project On Government Oversight.<\/p>\n
Trump should “avoid saying and doing anything related to the \u2060potential Warner Brothers deal, and steer clear of any allegation that he’s trying to help his son-in-law, who is tied to Paramount,” Amey said.<\/p>\n
All of Trump’s multi-billion-dollar real estate, \u200cgolf, media and other business interests are in a trust managed by his children.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York,; \u200cAdditional reporting by Michelle Price; Editng by Chris Sanders and Rod Nickel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jody Godoy WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Jared Kushner’s financing role in Paramount’s $108 billion bid for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":434696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[201429,185,136729,171,17966,4659,15329,77684,67,132,68,27281,1021],"class_list":{"0":"post-434695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-affinity-partners","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-conflict-of-interest","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-jared-kushner","13":"tag-netflix","14":"tag-paramount","15":"tag-paramount-skydance","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-warner-bros-discovery","20":"tag-warner-bros"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115687478055754782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}