Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison told staff Monday that the company remains “highly confident” its roughly $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery will close despite a pause pending an antitrust trial and growing opposition from Hollywood unions.
In a memo obtained by multiple outlets, Ellison said, “We remain highly confident that this transaction does not pose any legal issues, and we will complete it and bring these two companies together.” He closed the note with “Let’s go!”
The memo came days after Paramount agreed with a coalition of 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America to hold off closing the transaction until five days after a ruling on the merits at trial or June 1, 2027, whichever is earlier. The stipulation cancels a previously scheduled hearing on a preliminary injunction and provides what the company described as a “direct path to a trial based on the evidence.”
Ellison told employees the company would have been positioned to close in the coming weeks absent the state lawsuit led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the separate WGA action. “We believe this is the right path because the facts and the law are on our side, and a full hearing will demonstrate why the plaintiffs’ arguments should not prevail,” he wrote.
A Paramount spokesperson said the agreement is “the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators, a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached.” The company has said the deal has cleared the U.S. Department of Justice and regulators in the European Union, China, Australia, Canada and more than 60 other jurisdictions.
On Saturday, SAG-AFTRA’s national board adopted a resolution formally opposing the merger unless “enforceable safeguards” are put in place against reduced production and with guarantees of increases in the percentage of films and television shows made in the United States. The performers’ union said it supports the lawsuits brought by the state attorneys general and the WGA.
“Our members have every right to expect that the government will do thorough regulatory oversight when a deal of this magnitude takes place,” SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin said in a statement. “The workers in this industry should not have to rely on promises and aspirational statements. These companies have the ability to commit to making more films and shows in this country and they should.” National executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland added that “a handshake, a smile and the promise of good intentions are simply not enough.”
Paramount has previously said the combined company would produce at least 30 theatrical films annually across the two studios. But the pause means Paramount will likely begin accruing a daily ticking fee payable to WBD shareholders after Sept. 30.
The delay also extends uncertainty for the planned combination of Paramount+ and HBO Max and the two studios’ film and television operations. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel publicly backed the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal in recent comments, saying it would allow Hollywood creatives to “get back to trying to rip each other’s heads off.”