US Clears Paramount’s $111 Billion Warner Bros. Takeover
Los Angeles: On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Paramount Skydance would be sold to Warner Bros. It cleared its $111 billion acquisition of Discovery, delivering a huge profit for a media empire funded by one of President Donald Trump’s closest billionaire allies.
The Antitrust Division approved the blockbuster deal without requesting a single change, capping an eight-month review and paving the way for one of the biggest media mergers in recent years.
It was stated that this merger was “unlikely to harm competition or American consumers” and could even increase competition.
The approval is a coup for Paramount CEO David Ellison, whose Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison largely financed the acquisition.
The elder Ellison, one of the richest men in the world, is a close ally of Trump.
A group of Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, called on Warner Bros. He warned that the deal risked being “tainted by political favoritism and corruption” and called on the Justice Department to review the deal according to the law and facts.
Larry Ellison’s financial guarantee eventually led to Warner Bros. won the board’s support and sealed Paramount’s victory in a bitter bidding war with Netflix.
The merged company includes CNN, Warner Bros. It will control a broad list of assets, including Pictures and streaming service HBO Max.
However, the federal signature does not end the legal danger of the agreement.
According to Bloomberg, a coalition of about 10 states, led by California, is preparing for an antitrust lawsuit that could be filed this month.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said this week that the purchase “remains an active investigation.” The European Commission is also examining the merger.
Hollywood is unhappy with the deal.
Hundreds of actors and directors signed a letter opposing the merger, warning that it would stifle production in an industry already battered by years of consolidation and cost-cutting.
The Justice Department pushed back on those fears head-on, arguing that the evidence did not show the merger would reduce production.
The legend was announced last year by streaming giant Netflix and Paramount’s Warner Bros. and it started with him going to war over his valuable catalogue.
Cautious Tinseltown reluctantly lined up behind Netflix as the lesser of two evils, but watched as Paramount continued to increase its offering until the streamer walked away.
