Europe Won’t Kill the Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal — But It Could Make David Ellison Wait
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After the mogul's European charm offensive, Brussels prepares for a complex antitrust review of the $110 billion studio tie-up — one more likely to slow the deal than stop it.
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Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Washington appears ready to rubber-stamp David Ellison’s proposed $110 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery . But while the deal may (despite a brewing challenge from California) sail through the U.S. it could encounter a slower, more complicated review across the Atlantic — one that is more likely to delay the transaction than derail it outright. Anticipating that scrutiny, Ellison went on a European charm offensive in January, meeting with political leaders and key entertainment figures in France, Germany and the U.K. — including French President Emmanuel Macron — to lobby for the deal and win over regulators who could potentially delay or derail the merger. Related Stories TV More Than a Quarter of HBO Max Subscribers in the U.S. Already Have Paramount+ News Iranian Diaspora Filmmakers Celebrate Khamenei's Death: "Everybody Is Extremely Happy the Dictator Is Dead" Once U.S. regulators complete their review, European Union and U.K. antitrust authorities will take their turn examining the historic studio tie-up. Brussels has broad authority to investigate the competitive impact of a Paramount-Warner merger across cinema distribution, cable TV and streaming markets in all 27 member states. This is not simply a studio deal. It is a studio-to-studio merger layered on top of networks and competing subscription streaming platforms — HBO Max and Discovery+ on the Warner side; Paramount+ and SkyShowtime, a joint venture with Comcast, on the Paramount side. “This is a studio-to-studio merger plus networks plus SVOD to SVOD, which is complicated in the EU by multiple layers of the market and 27 member states,” Alice Enders of Enders Analysis told The Hollywood Reporter . The complexity alone, she noted, makes the regulat...
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