The UK competition regulator has approved Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The Competition and Markets Authority confirmed on Monday that it is among regulators from almost 70 countries to green-light the deal, despite opposition inside the United States.
The deal was announced in February after Paramount threatened legal action against Warner Bros. in January following the news that the latter had snubbed it in favour of a lower bid from Netflix.
However a dozen US states are currently blocking the deal in the courts, accusing Paramount of violating antitrust laws. It believes the deal could lead to price increases for cable bills and movie tickets.
The lawsuit, being led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, has caused Paramount to delay its acquisition until 2027, which could cost the company hundreds of millions or potentially billions of dollars.
Paramount will pay a 25-cent-per-day ‘ticking fee’ per share to Warner Bros. shareholders for each day that the deal fails to close after 30th September.
Paramount said at the weekend that rather than continuing legal action, a “better path… would be to resolve this through a settlement that would serve the interests of workers, consumers and the consumers in each of the 12 states”.
It accused the 12 state attorneys general suing it of inflicting “harm without benefit to their own constituents”.
“While we remain confident that the law and the facts are on our side, we have offered commitments and concessions and remain open to working constructively with the state AGs to find a path forward in the interest of our employees and the creative community in California and across the world – just as we have with the regulators in 68 countries worldwide,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said.