President Donald Trump supports the deal that Walt Disney has struck to buy film, television and international businesses from Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox, the White House said on Thursday.

"I know that the president spoke with Rupert Murdoch earlier today, congratulated him on the deal and thinks that, to use one of the president's favourite words, that this could be a great thing for jobs and certainly looks forward to and hoping to see a lot more of those," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, when asked about possible job cuts in an interview on Bloomberg TV, acknowledged that he will be looking at areas where the two companies overlap.

"There are synergies, and we will take a look at the overlap between businesses that are similar and look for efficiencies there," Iger said.