{"id":822635,"date":"2026-07-25T08:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822635\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T08:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:58:17","slug":"paramount-will-delay-closing-warner-buyout-for-months-while-judge-considers-states-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822635\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount will delay closing Warner buyout for months while judge considers states&#8217; challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Paramount on Friday agreed to delay closing its $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery well into next year, as a judge continues to consider a challenge from 12 states seeking to block the deal altogether.<\/p>\n<p>In a court filing, Paramount said it wouldn&#8217;t close the merger until either a court ruling is made on the merits of the states&#8217; lawsuit or June 1, 2027. The move arrives just days after U.S. District Judge Araceli Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn granted a temporary restraining order to freeze the transaction for several weeks, ruling that the states had raised some &#8220;serious questions&#8221; and a strong case about the merger&#8217;s potential to &#8220;substantially lessen competition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/nation\/judge-says-paramount-and-warner-bros-must-halt-merger-for-at-least-2-weeks-as-states-challenge-deal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Judge says Paramount and Warner Bros. must halt merger for at least 2 weeks as states challenge deal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Paramount called Friday&#8217;s agreement a &#8220;significant win because the result is exactly what we have sought from the outset: a direct path to a trial based on the evidence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The company, which was bought by Skydance just last year, added that this was the &#8220;fastest and clearest way&#8221; to prove its merger was good for competition and the wider industry.<\/p>\n<p>Twelve states, led by California, sued to block Paramount&#8217;s pending buyout of Warner last month \u2014 alleging that such a combination would instead &#8220;extinguish competition&#8221; in Hollywood and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly moviegoers and cable customers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From the workers and artists who bring stories to life to the families who buy tickets at the box office, Paramount&#8217;s illegal takeover of Warner Bros. is a bad deal for all those who count on a competitive entertainment industry,&#8221; New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is among those suing to block the merger, said Friday.<\/p>\n<p>She called the agreement to halt the deal a &#8220;critical victory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\n                    A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"invite_body\">\n                    Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.\n                <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/give.newshour.org\/page\/88646\/donate\/1?ea.tracking.id=pbs_news_sept_2025_article&amp;supporter.appealCode=N2509AW1000100\" class=\"donation-link ga-click-funding ga-click-ender-funding\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    Donate now<\/p>\n<p>                <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Paramount on Friday agreed to delay closing its $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-822635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}