Published on 6/13/2026
The US Department of Justice announced its approval of Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion, after an 8-month review, considering that the deal is unlikely to harm competition or consumers in the media and entertainment market. This deal is one of the largest deals in Hollywood history.
The Ministry’s Anti-Monopoly Division said in a statement yesterday, Friday, reported by Reuters, that the investigation included studying the impact of the deal on video streaming services, traditional television, and the film industry, in addition to listening to the opinions of actors in the entertainment sector.
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The ministry added that the review of the deal lasted for 8 months and included the review and production of more than two million documents, and the results of the investigation showed that the proposed merger between the two companies “will increase competition across the media and entertainment system, with benefits for American consumers and workers.”
Trend for mergers
The approval comes at a time when the American media sector is witnessing a wave of restructuring and mergers to face increasing competition from giant broadcast platforms, led by Netflix, Disney, and major technology companies.
This deal, which was agreed upon last February, also comes after a bidding battle that lasted for several months between Paramount and Netflix.
According to the American newspaper The Washington Post, the new entity will bring together under its umbrella huge media and entertainment assets that include Paramount Studios, Warner Bros., CBS, CNN, and the Paramount Plus and HBO platforms, making it one of the largest players in the global content industry.
Democratic senators had warned that such a deal would lead to “one company controlling almost everything Americans watch on television.”
Intense competition
Paramount thanked the Ministry of Justice for its review and approval of the deal, stressing that the merger “will enable the company to better compete in a market characterized by intense competition.”
The company said in its statement that it will continue working to complete the deal “as soon as possible in order to benefit consumers, creators, and the entertainment sector as a whole.”
In a related context, reports by American media, including Politico and Axios, indicated that the deal still needs to complete some regulatory procedures outside the United States, including possible reviews from competition authorities in other markets such as the European Union.
Media reports also indicated that Larry Ellison – the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison – has strengthened his relations with US President Donald Trump in recent years, which raised questions from some critics of the deal, although the Department of Justice did not indicate any political considerations in its decision.
“Any merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. would be an antitrust disaster, which is exactly what our antitrust laws were designed to do,” senior US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, said when negotiations for the deal began last December.
Warren added, “The imposed offer is supported by an elite group of Trump’s associates… and this raises serious questions about the exploitation of influence, political favoritism, and the risks of national security.”
President Trump said at the time that both rival parties were “not my friends” and that he wanted to “do what is right.”
