A federal judge Thursday extended the order blocking Paramount’s proposed $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery for an additional 14 days, halting the merger until at least Aug. 18.
The judge issued a 14-day restraining order Monday pausing the merger — considered one of the biggest media deals in history — while considering an injunction motion. The judge extended the order for an additional 14 days Thursday.
The order stems from a lawsuit brought in the Northern District of California by a 12-state coalition led by California arguing the planned merger would violate federal antitrust law.
The judge set an Aug. 3 hearing in the matter but Paramount is seeking a three-day evidentiary hearing late next month in order to cross-examine the states’ witnesses.
After the states filed suit last week, the Writers Guild of America sued to block the deal on the grounds it would cause harm to writers and shrink the labor market.
On Wednesday, the WGA filed its own bid for a preliminary injunction to halt the takeover.
The union’s motion seeks to bar Paramount and WBD from “closing or otherwise consummating” the deal or taking any further steps to consolidate their operations.
The guild alleges Paramount’s pending acquisition of WBD would reduce opportunities, lower pay and worsen working conditions for writers. The union argues that the elimination of a key competitor and the creation of a new dominant firm would reduce the quantity and variety of theatrical films and television series as the merged company would have a greater ability to reduce output.
Furthermore, WGA asserts that the merger would increase the ability for the few remaining companies to tacitly coordinate to further suppress competition for writers’ work.
“If the transaction closes, the combined company will be the largest buyer of screenwriting services on blockbuster films in the United States, eliminating head-to-head competition between two studios that have competed against each other for talent, projects and audiences for more than a century,” the WGA wrote in its filing Wednesday. “These competitive harms are distinct from those described by the coalition of state Attorneys General, but are no less dire or urgent.
“Writers, the people who transform blank pages into unforgettable stories, will be some of the first to bear the harms of that loss of competition,” the guild continued. “To preserve the competition essential to creative opportunity and fair compensation, the WGA respectfully moves for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Paramount and Warner Bros. from closing or otherwise consummating the transaction before the court determines whether it is unlawful.”
A Paramount spokesperson previously said the planned merger “is lawful, pro-competitive, and will benefit consumers, creators, workers, and the entertainment industry.”
The company also said Wednesday that the European Commission has formally cleared the acquisition, adding to approval from antitrust and competition authorities in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Kuwait, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine and the regional competition authority for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.