Paramount Warner Bros. merger delayed until antitrust trial
Paramount Skydance agreed not to close its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal until after an antitrust trial or June 1, 2027.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
The Paramount Warner Bros. merger is on ice for now: Paramount Skydance agreed Friday to hold off on closing its $111 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery until after an antitrust trial, according to a joint stipulation filed in federal court.
The agreement with a coalition of state attorneys general says the company will not complete the transaction until five days after a trial takes place, or until June 1, 2027, whichever comes first.
When can the Paramount Warner Bros. merger close?
Under the new timetable, the deal cannot close before the antitrust claims are tested at trial, unless the June 1, 2027 date arrives first. The filing also clears away an Aug. 3 hearing in federal court in Oakland, which both sides agreed to cancel.
The delay follows a temporary restraining order won earlier this week by a 12-state coalition led by California. That order blocked the merger from closing for 28 days while the court considered a request for a preliminary injunction.
The states allege the transaction would hurt competition in cable and theatrical markets and should be stopped. A preliminary injunction request asks a judge to keep a challenged deal from closing while the legal fight continues.
Why are states challenging the deal?
The attorneys general say the merger would reduce competition in key entertainment markets. Paramount Skydance disputes that and says the case should go straight to a trial focused on evidence.
Paramount had asked for a three-day hearing on the injunction request in late August, according to the court dispute. The states pushed back, saying they needed more time for discovery and to prepare for a full trial on the merits.
The states had been expected to file their injunction motion Thursday night, but they paused while the two sides discussed the path that produced Friday’s stipulation.
Paramount cast the agreement as a win. A company spokesperson said the result gives Paramount what it had wanted from the beginning: “a direct path to a trial based on the evidence.”
The spokesperson also said Paramount believes the transaction is “good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators,” and argued that competition authorities around the world have already reached that conclusion. The company said the plaintiffs’ market definitions do not match today’s marketplace and said it expects to prove its case at trial.
The Writers Guild of America also moved this week to block the deal, filing its own request for an injunction that had been set for the same Aug. 3 hearing. The guild has now withdrawn that motion after Paramount agreed it would not close the transaction until the antitrust claims are decided on the merits.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.