Judge temporarily blocks Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
A federal judge in California temporarily paused Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday in response to a request from a dozen Democratic state attorneys general who sued to block the mega-merger, citing harm to competition in Hollywood.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin of the Northern District of California granted the states’ request for a temporary restraining order, which prevents the companies from directly “closing or consummating the transaction” and “taking any steps, directly or indirectly, to integrate or consolidate their operations” for two weeks.
The judge will weigh the states’ bid to secure a long-term injunction, which would freeze the merger while the legal process unfolds. A hearing on that motion has been set for Aug. 3.
The deal would consolidate two powerhouse movie studios, several popular streaming services and the national news networks CBS and CNN into a single company under the purview of the billionaire, Trump-aligned Ellison family. The states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, challenged the agreement in the lawsuit filed on July 13, arguing the consolidation violates antitrust laws.
The states argued the merger would “extinguish competition between Paramount and Warner Bros. and inflict substantial harm on movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and, ultimately, audiences nationwide.” The deal, the lawsuit said, “combines two of the nation’s five major film distributors, leaving only four to control over 85 percent of all wide-release theatrical films in the United States.”
Bonta said in a statement that the temporary injunction “is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day,” adding that the states are “fighting for a free and fair market and a thriving film and television industry that serves creatives and audiences alike.”
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Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
