19/12/2025

FRIDAY | DEC 19, 2025

17

BIZ & FINANCE

Trump vows economic boom in address to nation o American president blames predecessor for high prices

Warner Bros rejects Paramount bid, sticks with Netflix NEW YORK: Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday rejected a hostile takeover bid by Paramount launched last week to trump plans by streaming giant Netflix to acquire the Hollywood giant and owner of CNN. In a statement, Warner Bros said the terms of the Netflix merger were better, while the Paramount offer “once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated ... throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals”. “We are confident that our merger with Netflix represents superior, more certain value for our shareholders,” it said. Netflix shocked the industry on Dec 5 by announcing it had sealed an agreement to buy the film and television studio and HBO Max streaming business for nearly US$83 billion (RM339 billion), the entertainment industry’s biggest consolidation deal this decade. Three days later, Paramount – whose CEO is David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, an ally of President Donald Trump – launched an all-cash tender offer valuing the entertainment giant at US$108.4 billion. But Warner Bros on Wednesday described the Paramount offer as risky, saying it was backed up by “an unknown and opaque revocable trust” and involved “no Ellison family commitment of any kind”, among other factors. Warner Bros. Discovery also stressed the dependence of the Paramount offer on foreign investors – US$24 billion of the financing is from Middle East sovereign wealth funds – which will require further regulatory scrutiny. “Our deal structure is clean and certain, with committed debt financing from leading institutions,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, wrote in a letter to Warner Bros shareholders, according to Business Insider. “There are no contingencies, no foreign sovereign wealth funds, and no stock collateral or personal loans.” Trump has repeatedly weighed in on the bidding war, saying Netflix’s deal “could be a problem” as it would leave Netflix with a huge market share of the film and TV industry. He later said that he wanted to ensure CNN gets new ownership as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery sale, targeting the outlet he has long blasted for airing critical news coverage that he repeatedly refers to as “fake news”. Unlike Netflix’s offer, Paramount’s latest bid included the buyout of cable channels such as CNN, TNT, TBS and Discovery – which would be added to its group of TV assets like CBS, MTV and Comedy Central. – AFP The ECB is expected to hold interest rates steady this week for its fourth straight meeting with inflation in check, although debate is heating up about the path forward. Both the Paris and Frankfurt stock markets ended lower. Asian markets were mixed. Investors continued to study Tuesday’s release of US non-farm payrolls reports, which showed that unemployment in the world’s biggest economy had jumped to a four-year high of 4.6% in November. Analysts said the data did little to change expectations that the Federal Reserve would likely keep key US interest rates unchanged in January. Investors are now looking to consumer price inflation data due to be released today. – AFP

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump promised Americans an economic boom in an address to the nation on Wednesday, while blaming Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for high prices that have hit the Republican’s popularity. “Good evening America. Eleven months ago I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” the 79-year-old said in his live speech from the White House at the end of his first year back in power. Trump faces growing voter anger over the issue of affordability despite his efforts to dismiss it as a “hoax” by Democrats, sparking Republican fears they could be punished in the 2026 midterm elections. The billionaire president insisted that prices of gas and groceries that have worried Americans were “falling rapidly, and it’s not done yet”. “But boy, are we making progress.” In a surprise announcement, Trump said that 1.45 million United States military service members would each receive “warrior dividend” bonus checks for US$1,776 before Christmas, paid for with revenues raised from tariffs. He added that specific amount was in honour of the year of the founding of the United States, the 250th anniversary of which the country will celebrate next year. Trump then promised that “we are poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen” in 2026, when the United States will co-host the Fifa World Cup, with Canada and Mexico. But while the White House had billed the speech as a chance for Trump to set out his economic agenda for the rest of his second term, much of it consisted on attacks on familiar targets. He repeatedly raged against Biden, the Democrats, and migrants whom he said “stole American jobs.” Democrats fired back after the speech, with Senator Chuck Schumer saying in a statement that Trump “just showed he lives in a bubble completely disconnected from the reality everyday Americans are seeing and feeling”. “The facts are that prices are going up. Unemployment is going up. And there’s no end in sight,” he added. Trump’s speech comes at the end of a whirlwind year in which he has launched an unprecedented display of presidential power, including a crackdown on migration and the targeting of political opponents. But polls show what Americans are most concerned about is high prices, which experts say are partly fueled by the tariffs he has slapped on trading partners around the world. Trump got his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy in a PBS

Trump addresses the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. – AFPPIC

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wake-up call on the economy in recent weeks, with next year’s midterm elections for the control of Congress already looming. Republicans lost heavily in elections in November for the mayor of New York and governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, while Democrats ran them close in a previously safe area in Tennessee. The president is now ramping up his domestic travel to push his economic message. Last week in Pennsylvania he promised to “make America affordable again”. Vice-President JD Vance – who is rapidly becoming Trump’s messenger on the issue as he eyes his own presidential run in 2028 – also urged voters to show patience during a speech on Tuesday. – AFP

Wednesday, Americans disapproving and expressing concerns about the cost of living. A YouGov poll published on Tuesday showed that 52% of Americans thought the economy was getting worse under Trump. He has also faced criticism from his Make America Great Again movement for focusing on peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza and on tensions with Venezuela, instead of domestic issues. Trump did not mention Ukraine or Venezuela, but did talk about the Gaza ceasefire, the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear programme, and what he calls a war on drug traffickers. There are signs Trump’s team has had a with 57% of

Crude prices surge after US blockades Venezuela oil LONDON: Oil prices surged on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of “sanctioned” oil tankers heading to and leaving Venezuela. Both Brent and WTI contracts jumped more than 2% before paring gains. Such a development could ease sanctions on Russian oil, adding to oversupply concerns already weighing on the market. “Concerns about AI have reared their head again, weighing on sentiment just as the Santa rally was meant to get underway,” he said. In Europe, London’s stock market rallied as the pound faltered on expectations of cuts to Bank of England interest rates, after data showed UK inflation falling faster than forecast.

But Razaqzada noted there are reports that the Trump administration is preparing further sanctions on Russia’s oil sector in the event Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects a Ukraine peace deal. Stock indices opened higher on Wall Street, but turned lower as the morning wore on. “Investors are getting a little worried that maybe we are headed for at least economic softness, weakness, and hopefully not a recession,” said CFRA Research’s Sam Stovall. IG analyst Chris Beauchamp noted that tech shares were struggling once again, with AI chipmaker Nvidia and Google parent company Alphabet both lower.

“The big news is the oil-price rally after President Donald Trump announced an oil blockade on Venezuela,” said Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada. “The news lifted shares in energy stocks in Europe – the likes of BP and Shell helping the UK’s FTSE 100 to outperform,” he added. Shares in both companies rose more than 1%. The gains for crude pared some of the 2.7% in losses suffered on Tuesday after the US president said a deal to end the war in Ukraine was closer than ever.

Britain’s annual inflation rate slowed to 3.2% in November, cementing expectations that the Bank of England will cut its main interest rate on Thursday and again on more than one occasion in 2026. Analysts had expected inflation to have cooled only slightly to 3.5% from 3.6% in October. Eurozone inflation remained at 2.1% in November, hovering just above the target set by the European Central Bank, slightly revised official data showed on Wednesday.