California Attorney General leads coalition of 12 US state attorneys general in lawsuit to block the planned $110 billion Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger

California State Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit last week against the proposed $110 billion merger between Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and Paramount Skydance Corp., leading a coalition of 12 state attorneys general seeking to block the combination. The complaint alleges that the merged entity would control almost a third of theatrical motion pictures and cable programming in the US market, causing 'substantial harm' to cinemas, distributors, and audiences through higher prices, reduced content, and lower quality. The Writers Guild of America has also separately filed suit, alleging the merged firm would become the largest buyer of original film and television programming in the United States, eliminating vigorous competition from a major studio that has operated for over a century. Paramount responded, stating the suit 'distorts settled antitrust law' and was founded on 'a misrepresentation of competition' within the entertainment sector. Separately, the European Commission notified on 2 June of the deal is expected to issue a decision this week, having received the merger notification on that date following the parties' filing. The dual-track challenge, state-level antitrust enforcement in the US alongside a Brussels regulatory review, illustrates the multi-jurisdictional clearance burden facing megadeal parties in the media sector. The EC's review is attracting substantial Big Law presence in Brussels, given the city's concentration of Global 200 firms active in competition work. Content industry observers note that any requirement to divest film libraries or restructure content distribution arrangements would carry significant valuation and contractual consequences for both sides.

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