The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly approved the Paramount Skydance $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to insiders.
The approval is a major hurdle for the massive media deal, but Paramount may still face legal challenges from several state attorneys general, including California’s Democrat AG, Rob Bonita, CNBC reported.
Official announcement by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division has not yet been made, but Paramount’s stock rose four percent after the news of the claims by DOJ insiders broke on Friday.
According to Politico, the deal has been approved without requiring “any divestitures, behavioral remedies or concessions.”
The report added that the DOJ says it conducted an extensive review of the deal and “officials determined the transaction did not pose a threat to competition and declined to challenge it.”
In February, Paramount offered WB a buyout of $31 per share, knocking Netflix out of the bidding process for the studio.
Since then, however, Paramount has accused: Netflix of working behind the scenes with a whisper campaign in an attempt to nix Paramount’s deal with WB.
In the June 5 letter, Makan Delrahim, Paramount’s chief legal officer, says that Netflix is trying to “poison regulators” against Paramount’s merger deal with WBD.
“Netflix’s panic-level response and scorched-earth campaign to try and poison regulators and other stakeholders against the transaction shows just how seriously Netflix takes Paramount as a scaled competitor,” the letter reads in part.
But with this latest hurdle apparently cleared, Paramount is full steam ahead with the acquisition.
“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. 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 Skydance said in a statement Friday.
Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren, though, is apoplectic over the news of the DOJ approval.
Warren jumped to her social media to decry the news, writing, “This is terrible news for every American who doesn’t want Trump-aligned billionaires to control what they watch and how much they pay. The Paramount-Warner Bros. deal has reeked of corruption and influence-peddling.”
She added, “This fight isn’t over. State AGs must block this merger.”
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