The agreed-upon deal between Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) is currently on hold due to widespread antitrust legal action.
The deal has been approved by shareholders and is worth $110.9 billion.
WME and TKO CEO Ari Emanuel posted an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal arguing for the deal.
Excerpts from the article:
“The lawsuit by California’s Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general to block the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance puts it all at risk. They say they are protecting competition. Their actions threaten to destroy it.
“You know an antitrust case is trash when it ignores some of the fastest-growing competitors in the market. In their analysis, the state attorneys general pretend Amazon MGM, A24 and Lionsgate don’t exist and that Netflix isn’t leaning into theatrical films with its coming release of Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” (which I suspect will whet its appetite for more).”
“The real threat to competition is what happens if the attorneys general succeed. Warner Bros. Discovery ended 2025 with $29 billion in net debt and declining revenue. Does anyone believe it will be able to invest in films and television? More to the point, does anyone believe it wouldn’t sell its key assets to companies that aren’t committed to theatrical exhibition?
“Paramount can likely remain a competitor on its own thanks to David Ellison’s passion for filmmaking. But it will be a smaller company, without the ability to scale Paramount+, which means it can’t spread the cost of content across a larger audience and commission the additional films and series that a global platform requires.”
“Let me conclude with some blunt talk. I am a lifelong Democrat, as are many of my friends and, yes, family. I hear the passionate concerns about CNN and the politics surrounding this transaction. But antitrust law can’t be a tool for settling arguments, whether wielded by a Democrat or Republican. Those issues should be debated directly and on their own merits.
“When government officials manipulate markets to reach political outcomes, antitrust stops protecting competition and starts threatening it. The attorneys general should drop this case and get back to enforcing the laws as they are written. Let Hollywood creatives get back to trying to rip each other’s heads off at the box office, in streaming, online and everywhere else we compete. It’s what we’re best at.”
Paramount has agreed to put the deal on pause until the antitrust lawsuit is settled.
UFC and Zuffa Boxing streams on Paramount+, while AEW is under the WBD banner.
