The U.S. Justice Department cleared the way for Paramount Skydance’s $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery — a major milestone that moves David Ellison closer to his goal.
After a months-long review, Justice Department antitrust regulators on Friday concluded the combination would not violate federal anti-competition laws. Approval had been expected because President Trump — who has friendly ties with Ellison and his father, tech billionaire Larry Ellison — favors the deal.
The government stopped short of asking Paramount to make concessions or divestitures.
Antitrust regulators found that “based on the evidence received in its investigation … the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers,” the Justice Department division said in a statement.
They looked at whether the merger would give Paramount too much power in the streaming video on demand market; the linear television channel space and “studio development, production, or distribution of films for theatrical release” but did not find potential antitrust violations, the Justice Department said.
Ellison has promised to continue releasing 30 films a year with a combined Warner Bros.-Paramount studio.
“We are grateful for the Department of Justice’s thorough review of this transaction, as well as the work of the other agencies that have completed their reviews and provided clearance to date,” Paramount said in a statement.
“This deal is pro-competitive, resulting in a stronger company better positioned to compete against dominant technology platforms in an industry increasingly defined by intense competition for audiences, talent, technology, and investment. We remain focused on completing the transaction as soon as possible and delivering its benefits to consumers, creators, and the entertainment industry as a whole,” Paramount said.
Paramount wants to finalize its purchase by September.
With Friday’s victory, Paramount is staying on that timetable, but regulators in Europe and Britain have opened their own regulatory investigations and are expected to make their own determinations in the coming months.
Separately, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and other state attorneys general have been scrutinizing the proposed merger, and are widely expected to file a lawsuit, perhaps as early as this month, to try to block it.
Paramount applied for the Justice Department’s approval in December — more than two months before it edged out Netflix in the Warner sweepstakes.
Buying Warner Bros. would allow Paramount — Hollywood’s smallest major company — to bulk up with such prestigious properties as HBO, celebrity.land, HGTV and Food Network. Those would be combined with properties Paramount already owns, including CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.
The deal would put two historic film studios, and two prominent news organizations under the same roof. It would give Paramount four streaming services, including HBO Max, and dozens of cable channels.
Justice Department approval could complicate efforts by Bonta and other state attorneys general to block the deal. Should Bonta or others sue, they would have to convince a judge that the nation’s top antitrust regulators failed to make a proper finding.
That may pose a high bar for the state officials, who are facing political pressure to stop the deal.
“State AGs must block this merger,” U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement Friday, adding that the Justice Department‘s approval was “terrible news for every American who doesn’t want Trump-aligned billionaires to control what they watch and how much they pay.”
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