Paramount Agrees to Put WBD Acquisition on Pause

In a court filing Friday, Paramount agreed to slow its roll, legally speaking. The studio says it will delay the merger between it and Warner Bros. Discovery for many months, possibly into 2027, pending lawsuits from state AGs and the Writers Guild of America. According to CNN, the Skydance-owned Paramount agreed not to squish yet another media company under its umbrella until the conclusion of an antitrust trial or June 1, 2027 — whichever comes first.

The agreement, if signed off by Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, would undo the states’ and WGA’s requests for a preliminary injunction blocking the merger. It would also move up the timetable for an antitrust trial, the schedule for which would be due on July 31. The delay opens Paramount up to a “ticking fee” of 25 cents per share, payable to Warner Bros. Discovery for every quarter the companies remain unmerged after September 30. 

Attorneys general from 12 states filed a joint lawsuit blocking the merger of Paramount-Skydance with Warner Bros. Discovery on antitrust grounds on July 13. The WGA filed a similar lawsuit a day after. “We strongly support the 12 attorneys general from across the country brave enough to defend and enforce our country’s antitrust laws,” WGA East president Tom Fontana said at the time. WGAs East and West issued a joint statement Friday, saying, “It remains our view that this merger is unlawful, and we will continue the fight to block it.”