The US Justice Department approved Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Friday without demanding any changes to the controversial $110 billion (€95 billion) deal.
Concluding an eight-month review, officials said antitrust regulators found no evidence that the massive merger between two former rivals would harm consumers.
Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. is expected to “increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, with benefits for American consumers and workers,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Paramount has argued that the new, joint media company would be able to combine streaming libraries of HBO Max and Paramount+, providing more value to users. They also claim the merger would put additional pressure on streaming platforms like Disney+ and Neflix to keep up.
What have opponents of the merger said?
Many Hollywood directors and actors, however, oppose the merger as a sign of further consolidation of powerin the US entertainment industry, which is already dominated by just a handful of big companies.
Free speech activists also point to Paramount’s connections with the Donald Trump administration. Paramount Skydance is led by David Ellison, the son of tech titan Larry Ellison, who is one of the world’s richest people and a close ally of Trump.
The company has hired former Trump administration members, including a senior antitrust official and a White House lawyer.
Can the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger still be halted?
The Warner Bros. takeover will also see Paramount take ownership of CNN, a US-based global broadcaster often critical of the US president.
Paramount already owns CBS, another major US news broadcaster, which is currently led by Bari Weiss. Weiss has faced accusations of trying to influence coverage in favor of Trump.
Even with the green light from the US Justice Department, however, the merger could still be halted in court. According to a source cited by the Reuters news agency, California, New York and several other US states are preparing a lawsuit against the deal.
Across the Atlantic, EU officials are still looking into the merger, with a decision possible in July. UK market regulators also aim to publish a decision based on an initial probe by early August.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
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