Paramount Gains US Antitrust Clearance for $111 B Warner Bros. Deal

The U.S. Justice Department cleared Paramount Global’s proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, concluding the transaction is unlikely to harm competition and could even strengthen it across the entertainment sector.

The merger would combine Warner Bros. assets such as CNN, HBO, TBS, TNT, DC Studios and New Line Cinema with Paramount’s holdings of Paramount Pictures, CBS, Showtime and Nickelodeon. It still faces scrutiny from California’s attorney general, the UK Competition and Markets Authority and European regulators, and has attracted criticism from actors, directors and media‑watch groups concerned about job losses and media concentration.