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Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: paramount, Warner Bros
Paramount Skydance/Warner Bros Deal Reportedly Gets DOJ Green Light
Report: Paramount Skydance $110 billion deal to take over Warner Bros Discovery has gotten a green light from the Justice Department.
Article Summary
- Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery takeover has reportedly cleared a major DOJ approval hurdle.
- Paramount says the merger is pro-competitive and would better position it against dominant tech platforms.
- Paramount still faces key obstacles, including possible lawsuits from U.S. states seeking to block the deal.
- EU and UK regulators are also reviewing the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal, with timing concerns tied to ticking fees.
Reports are that David Ellison's Paramount Skydance deal to take over David Zaslav's Warner Bros Discovery has cleared a major hurdle, with sources first sharing with Politico (and a whole lot more speaking with a number of other news outlets) that Donald Trump's Justice Department has signed off on the $110 billion deal. "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," a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. "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."
The deal still has some potential roadblocks ahead as it inches closer to that "ticking fee" deadline that would require Paramount to pay Warner Bros shareholders a set fee per share for every financial quarter the deal wasn't approved during after September 30th. Along with concerns from the European Union regarding a monopoly on kids' programming (with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network being some of the bigger concerns), we also learned that a number of U.S. states are looking to file a lawsuit to block the deal (with more development expected on that front after today's thumbs-up from the DOJ). Earlier this month, we also learned that Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had formally opened a probe into the $110 billion deal. The first phase will wrap up on August 7th, at which point the CMA will announce whether a second investigation is warranted, which could take months (and would trigger the "ticking fee").
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