{"id":708227,"date":"2026-06-16T21:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/708227\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T21:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:38:14","slug":"the-fight-to-stop-a-hollywood-megamerger-is-far-from-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/708227\/","title":{"rendered":"The fight to stop a Hollywood megamerger is far from over"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison\u2019s bid to take over rival Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Discovery moved closer to the finish line last week after the Justice Department signed off on the $110 billion deal<\/a>. Paramount swiftly vowed to finalize the merger \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But in the eyes of California\u2019s top law enforcement official, the show isn\u2019t over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe merger of Warner Bros and Paramount is not a done deal and remains under investigation by my office,\u201d California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Friday.<\/p>\n

Inside the entertainment industry, all eyes are now on Bonta and other state attorneys general who could sue to halt the merger under state and federal anti-monopoly laws. New York Attorney General Letitia James\u2019 office is probing the deal as well, according to a person familiar with the matter, and other states are reportedly part of that endeavor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most direct tool available to California and New York is an antitrust lawsuit seeking an injunction to block the transaction,\u201d said Scott Wagner, the co-head of antitrust practice at law firm Bilzin Sumberg. \u201cState attorneys general have independent authority to challenge mergers even when federal regulators decline to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonta\u2019s and James\u2019 spokespeople declined to comment on the status of potential legal challenges.<\/p>\n

\"RobCalifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta in San Francisco on Feb. 17.Jason Henry \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images file<\/p>\n

The tie-up between Paramount and Warner would consolidate ownership of two historic film studios, two popular streaming platforms and a sprawling portfolio of broadcast and cable assets under Ellison, a 43-year-old media executive and the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, an ally of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The transaction would also bring together two news organizations, CBS News and CNN, amid mounting scrutiny on the younger Ellison\u2019s attempt to overhaul \u201c60 Minutes\u201d<\/a> and other parts of the Tiffany Network\u2019s news operations.<\/p>\n

In recent months, ground-level Hollywood professionals have warned that the merger would lead to fewer buyers for film and television content, shrink the pool of jobs and spike costs for consumers. More than 5,500 actors, directors, producers and screenwriters have signed an open letter vehemently opposing it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the letter<\/a>, the entertainment professionals cheered Bonta and his colleagues for \u201cscrutinizing the merger and considering legal action to block it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful for their leadership, and stand ready to support all efforts to preserve competition, protect jobs, and ensure a vibrant future for our industry, for American culture, and for our single most significant export,\u201d said the signatories, a list that includes JJ Abrams, Bryan Cranston, Jane Fonda, Pedro Pascal and Ben Stiller.<\/p>\n

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Free Press, a progressive advocacy that has rallied against corporate consolidation in the media business, said state attorneys general have \u201ca strong case for blocking this merger, and many brave journalists, filmmakers and workers in entertainment industry have spoken out against the dangers of this deal despite threats to their livelihoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are warning us what will happen if this deal goes through, and we must listen,\u201d Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron said.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department\u2019s antitrust division, in an unusually lengthy statement<\/a> Friday, said \u201cthe transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers.\u201d Paramount has repeatedly touted the benefits of the transaction, and Ellison has attempted to reassure Hollywood\u2019s creative community by promising to put 30 movies a year in theaters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d Paramount said in a statement Friday after the Justice Department announced its green light.<\/p>\n

In anticipation of legal pushback from state attorneys general, Paramount has retained Jeffrey Kessler, a prominent litigator who specializes in sports labor law and is the co-executive chairman of the law firm Winston Taylor. In a phone interview Tuesday, Kessler said he believes there is \u201cno proper antitrust challenge to this merger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very necessary merger to enable increased competition in streaming services, protect the model in network television and increase the number of movies in theaters,\u201d Kessler said.<\/p>\n

Wagner said state attorneys general have other tools at their disposal beyond litigation. They can, for example, send out waves of information requests and carry out reviews of specific legal issues \u2014 moves that would delay the deal\u2019s consummation. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile those tools are not a substitute for a successful antitrust challenge,\u201d he said, \u201cthey can increase pressure on the parties and potentially affect the timing, cost and complexity of the transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonta, a Democrat who is up for re-election in November, previously told NBC News he believes the Trump administration has taken an overly lax approach to federal antitrust enforcement, arguing that he and his fellow attorneys general have been forced to take a more prominent role to fill a void.<\/p>\n

California and New York were part of a group of dozens of states that secured a major win in April<\/a> after a New York City jury found that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster had illegally held monopoly power in the ticketing market. The states embarked on independent litigation after the Justice Department settled its antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.<\/p>\n

Bonta\u2019s and James\u2019 offices are also part of a legal coalition<\/a> that sued to prevent the $6.2 billion merger between broadcast station owners Nexstar and Tegna, a union that would create a new local television giant. The Federal Communications Commission \u2014 chaired by Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee \u2014 cleared the tie-up less than a day after the states filed their lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The marriage of Paramount and Warner is facing another layer of scrutiny from foreign regulators. The European Union is studying the deal\u2019s financial backing<\/a> from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, according to a public filing. The United Kingdom\u2019s antitrust authority formally announced a probe last Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Paramount executives are motivated to close the deal soon. That\u2019s partly because the company agreed to pay Warner shareholders a \u201cticking fee\u201d of 25 cents a share each quarter if the transaction isn\u2019t wrapped up by Sept. 30. The potential penalty is worth more than $600 million per quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison\u2019s bid to take over rival Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Discovery moved closer to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-708227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}