Justice Department Decision to Allow Paramount Deal Surprised Staff Investigators

Justice Department Decision to Allow Paramount Deal Surprised Staff Investigators


Career antitrust officials investigating Warner acquisition were leaning toward recommending a challenge to the merger, people familiar with the matter say

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/justice-department-decision-to-allow-paramount-deal-surprised-staff-investigators-a18f70da


By Dave Michaels

, Dana Mattioli

, Sadie Gurman

and Jessica Toonkel

Updated June 15, 2026 4:12 pm ET
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The Warner Bros. Water Tower with the company logo painted on its side, against a clear blue sky.
Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. Daniel Cole/Reuters

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery WBD -0.56%decrease; red down pointing triangle before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, according to people familiar with the matter.

A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law, the people said.

The staff investigators hadn’t yet made a final recommendation—a typical step in the deal-review process—and were told Friday that the department would close the investigation, effectively clearing the deal at the federal level, some of the people said.

The Justice Department’s senior leaders believed that Paramount Chief Executive Officer David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison, persuasively addressed many of the staff’s questions about the deal during a two-hour interview last month, according to people familiar with their thinking.

Among staffers’ questions was how the combined company could meet its commitment to make 30 theatrical releases a year, given its increased debt load. The senior leaders allowed the inquiries but believed Paramount’s debt wasn’t a reason to challenge the merger, the people familiar with their thinking said. No one on the investigative team spoke up to leadership voicing support for filing a lawsuit, they said...........................