Trump’s Department of Justice Opens New Investigation Into the Walt Disney Company

Three months into his second term, President Donald Trump has already started seeking revenge against The Walt Disney Company. After his only debate with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Trump vowed to get revenge on Disney after what he viewed as unfair treatment during the debate. 

In December, before Trump took office, Disney reached a $16 million settlement with the president over his defamation lawsuit against ABC News. Then, in March, Trump’s Federal Communication Commission (FCC) chair, Brendan Carr, announced that he was investigating Disney and ABC over their diversity practices, which he claimed violated equal opportunity regulations.

Now comes the biggest blow to The Walt Disney Company. Bloomberg reports that the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Disney.

According to the report, antitrust officials at the DOJ are investigating Disney’s deal to purchase a controlling interest in Fubo TV. Officials are investigating if the agreement would “unduly concentrate the market for sports streaming.” Disney also owns ESPN and ESPN+.

Earlier this year, Disney agreed to merge Hulu+ Live TV with Fubo’s sports streaming to create the second-largest pay-TV subscription. Fubo was suing Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros/Discovery over their plan to make the world’s largest sports streaming service.

Under the agreement, Disney owns 70 percent of Fubo, with shareholders owning the rest. After the merger, Disney and Fox agreed to pay Fubo $220 million to drop its lawsuit.

In February, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the DOJ to investigate the deal, arguing that it allowed Disney to “gobble up” a competitor and avoid the lawsuit. Warren said:

This acquisition would give Disney increased market power and incentives to increase costs for viewers, and should be regarded as another data point in Disney’s history of anticompetitive behavior.

It’s highly unusual that the DOJ would take advice from Warren, a frequent critic of the Trump Administration. However, if the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Warren and the Trump DOJ have found a common enemy and are apparently teaming up to take down Disney.