Justice Department antitrust division approves $111 billion Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger, according to report

The U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division has approved the proposed merger of Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal valued at $111 billion, according to a report published Thursday by The Guardian. The companies said they would continue working through remaining regulatory and legal steps before any closing could occur.

Paramount is controlled by the Ellison family through Paramount Skydance, while Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of major cable and streaming networks including CNN and HBO. The Guardian reported that the U.S. review lasted months before the antitrust division decision.

The Justice Department’s decision, if finalized as described, would address the department’s federal antitrust concerns under the Hart-Scott-Rodino process, which requires parties to notify the federal government and observe waiting periods before completing certain large transactions. After a federal clearance, the practical effect is that the deal can progress under U.S. authority, subject to conditions and to other regulators’ actions.

Even with U.S. approval, the report said the merger is still under scrutiny in the United Kingdom. The Guardian also said a new U.K. investigation could affect the timeline, and the deal could face additional challenges, including potentially from state attorneys general, if they pursue litigation tied to their own enforcement authority.

The companies’ next steps would include responding to any continuing investigations and completing required approvals in other jurisdictions. If any party files a lawsuit to block the merger, courts would determine whether the transaction should be enjoined while the legal claims are resolved.

Separately, the proposed combination raises issues that often appear in antitrust reviews of large media transactions, including competition in advertising, programming, and carriage negotiations. Those considerations are typically analyzed through the lens of specific markets and competitive effects rather than general claims about market power.

Because the Justice Department action described in the Guardian report is the core element of the transaction’s U.S. status, further verification from an official DOJ statement or a court filing would clarify the scope of approval, any conditions attached, and the exact stage of the process. Until that primary documentation is confirmed, the approval should be treated as reported rather than as an independently verified official record.