Paramount defends Skydance-WBD merger amid state AG lawsuit

Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, pushed back against a lawsuit filed by state attorneys general in the Northern District of California federal court challenging its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), arguing the complaint misrepresents competitive conditions in the entertainment industry.

A Paramount spokesperson said the merger would create a better-capitalized company positioned to compete with dominant streaming platforms. "The lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general, in the most generous light, reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law," the spokesperson said.

According to the company, regulators in 24 jurisdictions have cleared the transaction or allowed review periods to expire. The U.S. Department of Justice closed its merger investigation without action. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found the deal "unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition" and noted that Paramount and Warner Bros. are not particularly close competitors relative to other major film studios.

Competition clearances have been granted in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Kuwait, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Ukraine, and other markets. Foreign direct investment clearances were received in Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Romania, and several other countries.

Paramount CEO David Ellison has stated the combined company will release at least 30 films annually for full theatrical exhibition with a minimum 45-day window. In letters to California Attorney General Rob Bonta dated May 7 and May 28, 2026, Paramount argued that both Paramount and WBD "lack the scale to compete effectively against the leading" subscription video-on-demand platforms, citing Netflix, Amazon, and Disney as dominant players.

In a June 5, 2026 letter to the Department of Justice, Paramount addressed concerns raised by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, stating that increased content production would generate more work for union labor.

Paramount trades on Nasdaq under the ticker NASDAQ: PSKY. The company said it intends to vigorously contest the attorneys general's legal challenge.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Paramount Skydance extends debt offer deadlines to July 31
• Kimi K3 AI breakthrough: What Wall Street analysts say about China’s OpenAI threat
• Hims & Hers chief accounting officer to resign in October