Paramount's $110bn Warner takeover wins UK approval

Britain approved Paramount Skydance's $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday, removing a UK barrier to the media deal while legal challenges in the United States continue to delay it.

The UK government and the Competition and Markets Authority cleared the deal after earlier concerns about media plurality and competition. The CMA said the takeover would not weaken competition in film distribution, children's TV or streaming services.

UK culture minister Lisa Nandy said she would not intervene after securing “assurances and further legally-binding commitments” covering future investment in Britain, the separate editorial identities of key services and the editorial independence of news.

The deal still faces a US hurdle. A federal judge in California ordered the companies to temporarily pause the merger in July after 12 states led by California sued to block it on competition grounds. Paramount agreed to delay the deal until June 2027, and a trial has been set for March 2027.

The US Justice Department approved the merger on June 12. Paramount CEO David Ellison has argued that politics, not market share, is driving the state lawsuit, while the states challenging the deal say the combined company would hold large shares of wide-release film distribution and basic cable channel licensing.

The European Union gave the deal conditional approval in July. If completed, the combined company would include CNN, Warner Bros. Pictures and the HBO Max streaming service.

Paramount said it was grateful to the CMA for reviewing the transaction and said the UK conclusions showed what it called the “misguided” market definitions used by US state attorneys general in the California antitrust complaint.