Trump portfolio traded Comcast and Warner Bros. despite public silence

President Donald Trump’s disclosed brokerage accounts traded shares of Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery in 2025 even as his public attacks on the companies faded this year, Fortune reported. The trading matters because Comcast is pursuing a major spinoff that could face federal scrutiny under regulators appointed by Trump.

Fortune reported that Trump’s 2025 annual financial disclosure, released in June 2026, listed brokerage activity involving seven Fortune 500 companies that have also appeared in his public remarks: Apple, Nvidia, Boeing, Disney, Meta, Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery. Of those, Fortune found clear 2026 comments from Trump about Apple, Nvidia, Boeing, Disney and Meta.

Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery followed a different pattern, according to Fortune. Trump sharply criticized Comcast and CNN, a Warner Bros. Discovery unit, in 2025, but Fortune reported that it found no comparable direct public remarks from him about those two companies in 2026.

Comcast was heavily traded, Fortune says

Fortune reported that Comcast appeared in 30 transactions across five Trump brokerage accounts in 2025. That was more than the number listed for Apple, Nvidia, Boeing or Disney individually, and second only to Meta among the seven companies Fortune reviewed. Meta had 33 transactions, according to Fortune.

The Trump Organization has said the accounts are managed independently and that neither Trump nor his family directs purchases or sales, according to The New York Times, as cited by Fortune. Fortune reported that the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

The White House told Fortune that “neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest.”

Fortune contrasted Trump’s silence this year with his past comments about Comcast. Variety reported that Trump called Comcast CEO Brian Roberts a “lowlife” in February 2025 after the cancellation of an MSNBC host’s show. Variety also reported that Trump said Comcast should be made to pay large sums for harm he said it had caused the country.

CBSAustin reported that Trump later called Comcast and Roberts a disgrace to broadcasting. TheWrap reported that, during a May 2025 Oval Office appearance with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump said Roberts and others at the company should be investigated. Yahoo reported that Trump called Roberts “dopey” after MSNBC’s rebrand to MS NOW in August 2025.

Regulatory attention surrounds Comcast

CNBC reported that Comcast decided on June 29 to spin off NBCUniversal. Fortune reported that the move comes as the Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump appointee Brendan Carr, has opened an inquiry into Comcast’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

An FCC letter cited by Fortune showed that Carr opened the Comcast DEI investigation in February 2025. Fortune reported that the inquiry did not appear to have been closed.

The New York Times reported, as cited by Fortune, that Comcast and NBCUniversal moves could draw regulatory review because of Trump’s interest in media transactions. Fortune also reported that Comcast donated millions toward Trump’s ballroom effort.

Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, told Fortune by email that the need to ask whether Trump’s silence on Comcast relates to trading in the stock shows the ethical concern. Comcast did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Fortune reported a similar pattern for Warner Bros. Discovery. Trump has pushed at times for CNN to be sold or changed while Warner Bros. Discovery moves through a merger with Paramount Skydance, according to Fortune, but his sharpest recent criticism cited by the outlet came in December, when The Hill reported he called CNN’s leadership “corrupt or incompetent.” Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.