Paramount has reached a settlement to resolve an antitrust case with a dozen U.S. states that sued to stop the Hollywood giant’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. The Writers Guild of America also settled its own lawsuit over the merger. If the settlements win court approval, the deals would remove the last major hurdles to the megamerger, creating one of the largest news and entertainment companies in history. A combined Paramount-Warner Bros. would include two major film studios, dozens of cable channels, the CBS and CNN news operations, and competing streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max. According to The New York Times, Paramount agreed under the deal to establish a board of journalists to ensure what it said would be “editorial independence” at CNN and CBS News, as well as other concessions related to film production and distribution. 

Paramount is led by David Ellison, son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Both father and son are known to be supporters of Donald Trump. This is California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Rob Bonta: “We got a strong antitrust outcome — more production, more choice and guardrails that keep this industry competitive. I don’t think these two companies should merge, but that’s not something that we are focused on with our resolution here.” 

Jessica González of the media reform group Free Press said in response, “We are disappointed that Attorney General Bonta went back on his promise to enforce the law and protect consumers and workers. … Based on all reports, this weak deal contains nothing but unenforceable, empty Paramount promises. It abandons the thousands of creatives and workers who risked speaking out, and the tens of millions of consumers the attorneys general should be fighting for.”