Judge OKs plan for Paramount-Warner Bros. merger

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(The Center Square) - Paramount Skydance won a federal judge’s approval Wednesday to proceed with a $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in a historic Hollywood merger.

U.S. District Judge Martínez-Olguín in Oakland approved Paramount Skydance’s settlement with Democratic attorneys general from 12 states, who sued to stop the merger. The plaintiffs included Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

Martínez-Olguín did not add conditions beyond what were made during the agreement between Paramount Skydance and the attorneys general.

The companies own two longtime iconic movie and TV studios – Paramount Pictures in Hollywood and Warner Bros., on a larger campus in nearby Burbank, Calif. Paramount is known for franchises such as "Star Trek," "Transformers" and "Mission Impossible." Warner Bros. is famous for everything from Bugs Bunny to "Casablanca," Batman and Superman movies, and the Harry Potter franchise.

As part of the agreement, Paramount Skydance will produce 30 movies in each of the first two years of the deal and 32 movies in each of the following three years.

In addition to Paramount Pictures, Paramount Skydance owns the CBS broadcast network, the Paramount+ streaming service and cable networks such as Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and BET.

Besides its longtime movie and TV studio, Warner Bros. Discovery owns HBO Max, CNN, TNT, TBS, the Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network, DC Comics and DC Studios.

The antitrust lawsuit was scheduled to go to court in 2027.

Besides California, the state attorneys general involved in the antitrust lawsuit are from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.