{"id":403418,"date":"2026-07-18T11:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403418\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T11:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:30:45","slug":"paramount-offers-to-briefly-delay-warner-bros-merger-as-court-battle-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403418\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount offers to briefly delay Warner Bros. merger as court battle heats up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paramount Skydance\u2019s top antitrust attorney told a judge Friday that David Ellison\u2019s company would voluntarily delay its proposed $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery at least until mid-August amid a legal challenge brought by 12 state attorneys general.<\/p>\n

The states, led by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, have asked a judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would prevent Paramount from finalizing its deal as the court battle ramps up. Paramount made the pledge in hopes of avoiding such a ruling that would tie its hands \u2014 and give the states an early win in the litigation.<\/p>\n

Federal District Judge Araceli Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn said she would decide by Wednesday whether to issue a restraining order. <\/p>\n

\"David <\/p>\n

Tech scion David Ellison has been a regular in Washington D.C. this year as he races to consolidate Warner Bros. Discovery \u2014 less than a year after his family bought Paramount. <\/p>\n

(Anna Moneymaker \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s hearing in Oakland opened the first chapter in the fight over the blockbuster deal that both sides agree would dramatically reshape Hollywood. Two century-old film studios \u2014 with rights to Harry Potter, Batman, \u201cTop Gun,\u201d \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d and \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d \u2014 would be combined, and HBO and CNN would come under new ownership.<\/p>\n

Antitrust attorney James H. Weingarten, of the Washington law firm Milbank, represents California and the other states. He told the judge it would be impossible to untangle the two companies if they are allowed to combine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this merger is allowed to close … the harms begin,\u201d Weingarten said. \u201cThe job losses, the synergies \u2014 that\u2019s the fancy word for \u2018we\u2019re going to save money and there might be job cuts.\u2019 All of that process starts rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonta filed the suit Monday, alleging the proposed merger \u2014 the largest in Hollywood in decades \u2014 would violate the U.S. Clayton Antitrust Act, a 112-year-old law to prevent mergers that weaken competition and raise costs for consumers. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges antitrust violations in three markets where the two companies currently compete: wide-release films, potential blockbuster movies and cable television, where the combined entity would own more than 50 cable channels. <\/p>\n

Paramount shares fell 4.3% to $8.75 on Friday. Warner stock slipped 1.5% to $26.87 \u2014 below Paramount\u2019s offer of $31 a share. <\/p>\n

More than two dozen lawyers attended Friday\u2019s hearing, including from Colorado, Oregon, Washington and New York who came to support California, which is leading the case. <\/p>\n

Paramount, represented by antitrust lawyer Jeffrey L. Kessler, argued a temporary restraining order was not necessary. The two sides should instead focus on the next big step \u2014 whether the judge issues a preliminary injunction, he said. Such a ruling could delay the deal for months.<\/p>\n

Kessler said Paramount should be allowed a hearing to defend against a preliminary injunction by the end of August. The company wants to wrap up the litigation by late September to avoid a higher payout to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. <\/p>\n

In a show of confidence earlier this year, Paramount offered Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders a \u201cticking fee\u201d of 25 cents for every quarter after Sept. 30 \u2014 until the deal was done. Such payments would cost Paramount more than $7 million a day, which Kessler called a \u201cmassive injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"California <\/p>\n

California Atty Gen. Rob Bonta is leading a coalition of 12 state attorneys general to try to halt Hollywood\u2019s biggest merger in decades.<\/p>\n

(Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Paramount would also have to pay Warner a $7-billion breakup fee should the deal fall apart. <\/p>\n

Kessler argued the states had not made a sufficient case that competition would be harmed. \u201cWe don\u2019t think they\u2019ve come close to jumping through that hurdle,\u201d Kessler said. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Kessler represented the state attorney generals in their winning case against Live Nation Entertainment. A jury found that Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, operated as a monopoly. This time, Kessler is representing corporate interests. <\/p>\n

Prominent Los Angeles litigator Daniel Petrocelli is representing Warner Bros. Discovery. <\/p>\n

\"Paramount <\/p>\n

Paramount hired attorney Jeffrey Kessler to lead its antitrust defense. <\/p>\n

(Noah Berger \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The case was assigned to Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn Wednesday after Paramount requested an earlier judge be removed because he formerly worked as a labor attorney. <\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn said she inherited the case because she was already overseeing another lawsuit dealing with the merger \u2014 not because Paramount had agitated for a change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount Skydance\u2019s top antitrust attorney told a judge Friday that David Ellison\u2019s company would voluntarily delay its proposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[17490,1436,1804,161834,6709,7084,1743,161833,36150,48,52,51,10803,47,50,49,49397,6336,225,80029,26368],"class_list":["post-403418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california-atty","tag-case","tag-company","tag-court-battle","tag-deal","tag-hearing","tag-hollywood","tag-judge-friday","tag-kessler","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-litigation","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-merger","tag-paramount","tag-state","tag-temporary-restraining-order","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}