{"id":2014,"date":"2026-06-12T21:38:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2014"},"modified":"2026-06-12T21:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:38:05","slug":"justice-department-approves-paramounts-warner-bros-discovery-takeover-without-any-strings-attached","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2014","title":{"rendered":"Justice Department Approves Paramount\u2019s Warner Bros. Discovery Takeover Without Any Strings Attached"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tDavid Ellison\u2019s Paramount Skydance has cleared a big regulatory hurdle in advancing toward completing its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2013\">What Taylor Swift\u2019s Big Week With \u2018Toy Story 5,\u2019 Steven Spielberg and the New York Knicks Says About Her Next Era<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Justice Department\u2018s Antitrust Division has approved the deal, as first reported by Politico. The agency is giving the green light to the Paramount-WBD tie-up without requiring \u201cany divestitures, behavioral remedies or concessions,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAfter an extensive review, \u201cDOJ officials determined the transaction did not pose a threat to competition and declined to challenge it,\u201d Politico reported, citing anonymous sources. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tParamount Skydance said in a statement Friday, \u201cWe are grateful for the Department of Justice\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tReps for the DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThere\u2019s been major backlash in the industry to the megadeal, which would bring bring together Paramount assets including CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures and Paramount+ with WBD\u2019s HBO and HBO Max, Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN, TNT, TBS, HGTV and more. Paramount execs have said they anticipate achieving more than $6 billion in cost savings through the merger \u2014 indicating big layoffs would ensue.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tTo date, more than 5,500 filmmakers, actors and other Hollywood professionals have\u00a0signed an open letter opposing the deal, arguing that it would eliminate jobs, raise prices and reduce competition. Organizers of the BlockTheMerger.com open letter include the Writers Guild of America (WGA); individual signatories include: Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal, Edward Norton, Joaquin Phoenix,\u00a0Ben Stiller,\u00a0Kristen Stewart, Mark Ruffalo, Noah Wyle, Ramy Youssef, Rosario Dawson, Rosie O\u2019Donnell, Ted Danson, Tiffany Haddish, Yorgos Lanthimos and Robert De Niro.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe Teamsters had urged the DOJ to block\u00a0the Paramount-WBD deal unless Paramount agreed to \u201csubstantial and enforceable safeguards\u201d against job cuts and committed to supporting increased U.S. production.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn March,\u00a0the acting head of the Justice Department\u2019s antitrust division, Omeed Assefi, said the Paramount-WBD deal would \u201cabsolutely not\u201d be on a fast-track for approval due to political reasons, in the context of the Ellison family\u2019s friendly ties to Trump.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tParamount still faces other potential roadblocks to closing the WBD deal. Among those: State attorneys general including California\u2019s Rob Bonta have said they will potentially move forward with litigation seeking to block the Paramount-WBD merger on antitrust grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2011\">Roku Stock Jumps 20% on Report It\u2019s in Sales Talks With a U.S. Media Company<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tRegarding the DOJ\u2019s approval of the deal, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement, \u201cThis is terrible news for every American who doesn\u2019t 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. This fight isn\u2019t over. State AGs must block this merger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMeanwhile, Paramount\u2019s proposed WBD deal is undergoing regulatory review in Europe and the U.K.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe\u00a0European Commission\u00a0is investigating the deal under the EU\u2019s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, looking at the approximately $24 billion being fronted for the takeover by the\u00a0sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.\u00a0The EU set a provisional July 14 deadline for vetting the deal under the law, according to a\u00a0notice\u00a0posted on the regulatory agency\u2019s site. That\u2019s in addition to its investigation under standard merger rules with a July 7 deadline.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tOn Tuesday (June 9), the U.K.\u2019s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, said it\u00a0initiated an investigation into the proposed Paramount-WBD deal. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tWarren is among U.S. Democrats who have called on the Trump administration to review the foreign investment backing the Paramount-WBD deal, including urging the FCC and the Treasury Department to initiate such reviews. But to date, there has been no word that such reviews will be initiated by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tLast week, Paramount chief legal officer Makan Delrahim said\u00a0in an interview\u00a0with the Los Angeles Times that there is \u201ca lot of fear-mongering, particularly from people in Washington, D.C. They are running a political campaign. Some of these people are trying to inflict harm on this transaction really because of their own antisemitic views.\u201d Delrahim has not identified which opponents of the Paramount-WBD merger allegedly hold \u201cantisemitic views.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDelrahim also alleged that Netflix had been strongly lobbying regulators against Paramount\u2019s WBD deal. Netflix clinched a deal to buy Warner Bros.\u2019s streaming and studios businesses in December 2025 before backing out of the bidding in February after\u00a0Paramount upped its takeout offer for all of WBD. \u201cNetflix\u2019s 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,\u201d Delrahim wrote in a June 5 letter to officials in DOJ\u2019s Antitrust Division. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tAbout Delrahim\u2019s comments, a Netflix spokesperson said: \u201cThese claims from Paramount Skydance are absurd. We walked away from this deal months ago and remain focused on our own business, not theirs. Ultimately, it\u2019s up to the regulators to approve this deal and determine if it is in the best interest of the industry and all concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2009\">Ronnie Schell, \u2018Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.\u2019 and \u2018That Girl\u2019 Actor, Dies at 94<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Ellison&#8217;s Paramount Skydance has reportedly cleared a big regulatory hurdle in advancing toward completing its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1726,433,434],"class_list":["post-2014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-justice-department","tag-paramount-skydance","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Justice Department Approves Paramount\u2019s Warner Bros. 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