{"id":752264,"date":"2026-07-09T09:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752264\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T09:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:17:10","slug":"oregon-attorney-general-seeks-delay-of-paramounts-close-of-wbd-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752264\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon Attorney General Seeks Delay Of Paramount’s Close Of WBD Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOregon<\/a>\u2018s attorney general is asking a judge to delay Paramount<\/a>\u2018s closing of its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> by 60 days, and to order the company to turn over documents related to the merger.<\/p>\n

\n\tA hearing is scheduled for Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe latest legal wrinkle comes as Paramount seeks approval from European regulators. The company has said that it won\u2019t close the deal before July 22, which is the deadline for an EU decision<\/a>. In the UK, UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said she is \u201cminded to intervene,\u201d but has not announced a formal decision. The U.S. Justice Department\u2019s Antitrust Division gave the greenlight to the transaction last month.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other state attorneys general are said to be considering a legal challenge to the transaction.<\/p>\n

\n\tOregon Attorney General<\/a> Dan Rayfield<\/a> said that he has been asking for Paramount records of lobbying of federal officials, as well as its role in a statement that the DOJ released in support of the transaction. The attorney general also is seeking documents \u201crelated to the formulation and execution of lobbying strategies aimed at obtaining regulatory approval of the proposed merger, which Respond as internally named \u2018Project Warrior.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRayfield said in a statement, \u201cOregonians have a real stake in this deal \u2013 in our film industry, in our economy, in the choices they\u2019ll have as consumers. Paramount had every opportunity to hand over records and answer a few basic questions. Instead, it is trying to run out the clock and evade scrutiny. We\u2019re asking the court to make sure Oregonians get the answers they\u2019re owed before this deal closes, not after.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe attorney general indicated in his motion that he was seeking information as to whether Paramount had a role in \u201ccomposing or editing\u201d the U.S. DOJ\u2019s statement on the merger. The statement was seen as a bit unusual in that the DOJ typically releases statements when it is challenging a transaction rather than explaining why it did not. The Oregon AG wrote that \u201cif an approval were the product of a corrupt bargain, that too would inform the state\u2019s interpretation of its own investigative materials\u201d that it received from Paramount, WBD and the DOJ.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a court filing, Paramount has objected to the document requests, arguing, among other things, that they impose \u201cburdens and demands which are disproportionate\u201d to the Oregon investigation and are \u201cof such marginal relevance that the value of any materials sought is outweighed by the burden imposed on Paramount in having to provide such information.\u201d It also objects on other grounds, including attorney-client privilege and that infringes on its First Amendment rights and freedom of association.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLobbying activities and related communications are wholly irrelevant to whether the proposed acquisition \u2018violates Oregon\u2019s antitrust laws,’\u201d the company\u2019s legal team wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oregon\u2018s attorney general is asking a judge to delay Paramount\u2018s closing of its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,111491,5109,2232,322577,4208,226553,3094,10343],"class_list":["post-752264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dan-rayfield","tag-electionline","tag-oregon","tag-oregon-attorney-general","tag-paramount","tag-paramount-wb","tag-skydance","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752264","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=752264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}