The Paramount-WB Merger Is Going to Trial

The Paramount and Warner Bros merger is going to take a little bit longer. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered a trial beginning on March 2 for 12 days, according to The New York Times. The trial will determine whether the merger violates any antitrust laws. The Attorneys General of 12 states, including California, have sued to stop the merger. The Writers Guild of America also sued to stop the deal. Paramount originally asked the judge for a November trial date, but it was denied. Beginning this October, Paramount will pay Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders $650 million for every quarter the deal doesn’t close. The merger closing is now delayed until June 2027. “We respect the court’s decision,” a spokeswoman for Paramount told the Times.

Earlier today, David Ellison, the chief executive of Paramount Skydance, wrote a New York Times op-ed and defended the merger. “I believe this fight is not really about market share. If it were, it wouldn’t have been reviewed and approved by regulators reflecting 65 countries, including the United States and China, as well as the European Union,” he said. “I believe a plainer worry sits beneath the briefs and the news releases: the news. The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN. There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions.”