The US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division on Friday cleared Paramount Skydance Corp.'s roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. without requiring divestitures or any behavioural remedies, concluding the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers. The decision, first reported by Politico, came after an eight-month investigation that covered streaming video on demand, linear television, and theatrical film development, production, and distribution.
Paramount Skydance (PSKY) shares rose approximately 3% in after-hours trading following the announcement. The deal would bring HBO Max, the Harry Potter franchise, and CNN under the same corporate umbrella as CBS, Top Gun, and the Paramount+ streaming service. Combining HBO Max and Paramount+ would create a streaming service with approximately 200 million subscribers [Source: Law Commentary].
The DOJ review followed a public lobbying battle between Paramount and Netflix (NFLX) over the proposed deal. Despite federal clearance, the transaction is not yet complete. California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said the deal remains under investigation by the California Department of Justice [Source: CNBC], and Paramount still awaits regulatory approval from authorities in Europe.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison told investors during the company's April earnings call that the deal was on track to close by September, after which a so-called ticking fee kicks in, making the deal more expensive [Source: CNBC]. A notable procedural detail underscores the complexity remaining: Paramount Skydance said in an SEC filing released Friday that it does not yet have a signed merger agreement in place, despite having received federal antitrust clearance [Source: Law Commentary]. Paramount was acquired by Skydance in 2025.
Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, Axios, Law Commentary, KTLA / Associated Press