The huge deal raises questions about corporate consolidation and media editorial independence.
Published September 30, 2026
A U.S. judge has issued an order giving media giant Paramount the green light to complete its $110 billion acquisition of entertainment company Warner Bros., despite concerns about the long-term effects of media consolidation.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Holguin approved a settlement between Paramount, Warner Bros., and a group of 12 states that had sued to block the merger.
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In his ruling, Martinez-Holguin said the proposed transaction is a “fair, reasonable, and good faith approach to addressing the competitive harms.”
Analysts have long expressed concerns about the deal, one of the largest media mergers in history.
A California-led coalition of states sued to block the deal, arguing that the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would effectively stifle media competition. They estimated that all theatrical releases and nearly one-third of basic cable programming would be combined through the merger.
However, the states abandoned the lawsuit in favor of a Sept. 21 settlement.
The five-year agreement requires Paramount to meet theatrical film release quotas and commit to releasing 30 films a year in the United States.
It also requires the combined company to negotiate with cable providers for Warner-owned channels separately from contracts for Paramount-owned channels.
The settlement approved Wednesday also includes the creation of a five-member commission aimed at protecting the editorial independence of the two largest news networks, CNN and CBS.
But skeptics say the merger would put a wide swath of U.S. media under the control of David Ellison, who heads Paramount.
Under Wednesday’s agreement, Ellison will be responsible for appointments to the board of directors, which oversees media independence.
Paramount’s CEO is the son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a strong supporter of the pro-Israel movement, and has close ties to President Donald Trump’s administration.
David Ellison, founder of film production company Skydance, acquired Paramount last year as part of another controversial merger.
Paramount’s 2025 deal with Skydance puts CBS under Ellison’s control. Prior to the merger, skeptics had questioned the sudden cancellation of the CBS comedy show “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which had been critical of Trump.
Mr. Ellison subsequently installed pro-Israel media figure Bari Weiss to head CBS News, a move that also raised questions about diminishing independence within major journalistic outlets.
Some critics described Wednesday’s settlement as yet another capitulation to powerful corporate interests.
“Allowing one foreign conglomerate aligned with Mr. Trump to dominate American news and entertainment is a disastrous outcome,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in response to the settlement announcement.
But California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other public officials have called on the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, to halt efforts by the 12 states to block the deal and instead pursue a settlement.
Paramount won a controlling stake in Warner Bros. in February after winning a bidding war with streaming giant Netflix.
This includes a suite of media and entertainment services, including movie studio Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN, and HBO Max. The Trump administration approved the deal without changes in June.
