A potential Comcast-WBD deal would test Trump regulatory regime

Comcast reported earnings Thursday, and it could shed light on how executives view regulators’ attitude toward a potential NBCUniversal-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of TNT Sports, CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. studio and other media assets, officially put itself up for sale after “receiving interest from multiple parties,” WBD CEO David Zaslav said in a statement last week. CNBC reported Comcast is among the interested parties.

Several pundits and analysts have posited that Comcast has little to no chance to do a deal from a regulatory perspective, given President Donald Trump’s pointed words for Comcast co-CEO and controlling shareholder Brian Roberts. Others say the path forward may not be doomed.

Trump in April called Comcast and Roberts “a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting” in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump has also called Roberts a “lowlife” and has referred to Comcast as “Concast.”

Some equity research analysts have predicted that the Trump administration would block a Comcast acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD is still moving toward a planned separation into two publicly traded entities while it expands its strategic review.

Paramount is trying to buy the whole company, before it could split, and WBD has thus far rejected three separate offers from the David Ellison-run company.

“It is almost certain that the Trump DOJ would not allow CMSCA to buy WBD and the result would be decided in court,” New Street Research analyst Blair Levin wrote in a note to clients, citing Trump’s public comments about Roberts.

“We along with our cable colleagues believe [Comcast’s] political standing in this administration is very low and believe CMCSA would think long and hard about whether a deal is worth the long, arduous process of creating enough goodwill to close the deal,” wrote Raymond James analyst Ric Prentiss.

Some Comcast executives think the regulatory concerns are either overblown or, at least, far too early to ascertain, according to people familiar with the matter, who have knowledge of Comcast’s strategy but spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking. There’s some evidence suggesting Comcast’s executives may have a point.

A Comcast spokesperson declined to comment.

Skydance Media received long-awaited Federal Communications Commission approval for its merger with Paramount after the CBS parent agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump over a “60 Minutes” episode.

While a deal for WBD won’t require FCC review, because Warner Bros. Discovery doesn’t own a broadcaster, a takeover of this size — WBD’s market capitalization is about $53 billion plus another $30 billion in debt — could still draw the scrutiny of Trump’s Department of Justice.

Trump’s reputation as a dealmaker suggests Comcast may be able to avoid any interference by endearing itself to the president.

Comcast is one of 37 companies donating to Trump’s efforts to build a $300 million ballroom for the White House through the Trust for the National Mall.

Trump’s public dislike toward Roberts and Comcast may be blovation linked to Trump’s assertions that MSNBC, owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, is left-leaning. It’s unclear if Trump explicitly cares about Comcast or NBCUniversal owning any of the WBD assets other than CNN, which Trump has also routinely criticized.

If his primary issue with Comcast buying WBD is CNN, a divestiture or deal without the network could circumvent those issues. Comcast is in the process of spinning off MSNBC into Versant, which will also become the parent company of CNBC.

While Roberts will still be a shareholder of Versant, MSNBC will no longer be a part of Comcast once Versant becomes its own publicly traded company at the start of 2026.

In a hypothetical situation in which Comcast were to spin off NBCUniversal, which is currently slated to remain with the company following the Versant transaction, and merge it with WBD, LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield predicted that deal could get through regulators.

Wolfe Research’s Peter Supino proposed a plan under which NBCUniversal would issue new stock to WBD at an exchange ratio (eliminating Roberts’ voting control over the new company) and appoint a chairman and CEO “not named Roberts.” That combination could lead to a deal, he wrote in a note to clients.

“The primary problems facing a Comcast bid — financing and politics — might be solvable,” Supino wrote.

While Comcast may shy away from pursuing a transaction that could be blocked by the Trump DOJ, even that may not be a dealbreaker.

In the first Trump term, his DOJ blocked AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, an earlier iteration of Warner Bros. Discovery. In June 2018, a U.S. District Court judge approved the $85.4 billion sale, ruling the government failed to prove the deal would harm consumers.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.