Paramount agrees to delay Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition amid legal challenge
The Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery has officially been delayed.
In a legal filing on Friday, the company announced that it had agreed to freeze the merger while a lawsuit filed by 12 state attorneys general makes its way through the legal system. This would extend a freeze that was imposed by a federal judge in California earlier in the week that was already extended earlier in the day.
Paramount in a statement said that the new agreement was “a significant win.”
“The result is exactly what we have sought from the outset: a direct path to a trial based on the evidence. This is the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators, a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached,” they said. “Plaintiffs’ market definitions bear no relationship to the realities of today’s marketplace and cannot withstand scrutiny. We look forward to proving our case at trial.”
A costly delay
The move may be a costly one for Paramount, as it hoped that the merger would be complete by the fall. A ticking fee for the proposed merger starts on September 30 where an additional 25 cents per share would be added each quarter. A delay to next June would add $1.7 billion dollars to the agreement.
WBD holds the rights to air AEW programming through 2027, with an option for an additional year. Tony Khan in interviews has been supportive of the merger, saying he was “thrilled” and the potential acquisition would be “great for AEW.”
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.