{"id":41348,"date":"2026-02-20T14:25:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41348"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:25:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:25:25","slug":"paramounts-108bn-bid-for-warner-bros-clears-us-antitrust-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41348","title":{"rendered":"Paramount\u2019s $108bn bid for Warner Bros clears US antitrust hurdle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\">Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the world<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=41c51286-ff0d-45d5-aefe-624b5049e01d&amp;newsletter-id=65b8fec772badb00166eafc6\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Paramount Skydance\u2019s $108bn bid to gatecrash Netflix\u2019s deal for Warner Bros Discovery has cleared a key US antitrust hurdle, in a signal of support from the Trump administration. <\/p>\n<p>The media group, whose bid is bankrolled by Oracle billionaire and Trump donor Larry Ellison, said on Friday that its deal had complied with the US Department of Justice\u2019s second request review process, removing a critical impediment to US regulatory approval.<\/p>\n<p>By allowing the 10-day statutory waiting period to elapse under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act\u2019s second request process, the justice department is effectively waving through the Paramount deal on antitrust grounds. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe expiration of the HSR waiting period means there is no statutory impediment in the US to closing Paramount\u2019s proposed acquisition of WBD,\u201d said Paramount in a regulatory filing. <\/p>\n<p>However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/stream\/17238b0a-3873-41d6-a252-b1af53e8963d\" title=\"\" data-trackable=\"link\">Paramount<\/a> still needs to convince WBD\u2019s board and shareholders of the merits of its deal. <\/p>\n<p>The antitrust clearance will be a boon for Paramount as it reopens deal talks with WBD in an attempt to trump Netflix\u2019s deal. WBD this week gave Paramount a seven-day period ending on February 23 to \u201cmake its best and final offer\u201d or walk away. <\/p>\n<p>Netflix, meanwhile, is facing an early-stage review by the justice department to assess whether its $83bn deal to buy WBD would stifle competition. The DoJ is yet to sue to block Netflix\u2019s deal, the most drastic step. <\/p>\n<p>Paramount and Netflix\u2019s deals are expected to face more intense competition scrutiny in foreign jurisdictions, such as the UK and EU. Paramount said in its filing that it continued to \u201cengage constructively with antitrust enforcers and other regulators around the world\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>Both companies have been jostling to win the favour of US President Donald Trump. Paramount\u2019s chief executive David Ellison met Trump earlier this month, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix\u2019s co-chief executive said on a podcast appearance this week that Trump was personally concerned about the impact of the Netflix deal on jobs in California. <\/p>\n<p>Paramount\u2019s proposed deal has drawn scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers. Senators including Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin on Thursday sent Ellison a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booker.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/corrected--_21926_preservation_letter_to_paramount_wattachmentarevised.pdf\" title=\"\" data-trackable=\"link\">letter<\/a> requesting Paramount preserve all records linked to the deal, after the company\u2019s chief declined to testify before Congress while Netflix and Warner executives were in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>We \u201ccan assure you that [the deal] raises significant competition concerns that the Senate has not had an opportunity to examine\u201d, the senators wrote. \u201cThe pattern of evasion, combined with Paramount\u2019s apparent confidence that a politically sensitive transaction will clear without difficulty, warrants serious scrutiny.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The DoJ, Netflix and WBD did not immediately respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n<p>The move by the DoJ is reminiscent of the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s decision to approve Pfizer\u2019s deal to buy weight-loss drug developer Metsera in the midst of a public bidding war with Novo Nordisk for the biotech. Pfizer ultimately prevailed with a higher bid. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/41c51286-ff0d-45d5-aefe-624b5049e01d\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}