EU Nears Approval of Paramount’s $111bn Warner Bros Deal, With Conditions
Brussels looks ready to clear Paramount Skydance‘s $111bn takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, as long as the company accepts a set of remedies. The decision would create one of the world’s largest media and entertainment groups.
A Mega-Merger of Marquee Assets
Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery struck the deal in February after a months-long bidding battle with Netflix. The combination pulls some of the industry’s most valuable properties under one roof: HBO, CNN, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, and the Warner Bros studios.
David Ellison — the billionaire son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison — is driving the deal through his Paramount Skydance. He’s betting that greater scale helps the combined company compete in a media market that deep-pocketed technology groups and streaming rivals have fragmented.
What the EU Wants
Paramount and the European Commission met Tuesday and are still hammering out the exact remedies, according to two people involved in the talks. One possible condition: Paramount may have to exit its joint venture with Universal Pictures — owned by Comcast — which distributes films across several international markets. Those sources stressed that regulators have not made a final call.
EU competition chief Teresa Ribera told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that the bloc wants to gauge “to what extent there is a reduction of the capability of creators to reach their audiences” under the deal.
The Regulatory Timeline
The Commission faces a July 7 deadline to approve the transaction or open an in-depth investigation. Regulators are also scrutinizing the deal under the EU’s foreign-subsidies rules, which guard against state-backed financing distorting competition. That review matters here because Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and L’Imad — an Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth-backed vehicle — are financing Paramount’s offer.
The US Department of Justice already signed off on the deal earlier this month, leaving the EU review as one of the last major hurdles.
A Paramount spokesperson said the company does not comment on ongoing regulatory proceedings. A Commission spokesperson declined to comment.
