The US Department of Justice on Friday approved the purchase of Warner Bros.
The Antitrust Division approved the blockbuster deal without requiring a single change, capping an eight-month review and paving the way for one of the biggest media mergers in years.
He said the tie-up was “not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers” — and might even increase competition.
The approval is a coup for Paramount chief executive David Ellison, whose father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, largely financed the takeover.
The elder Ellison, one of the world’s richest men, is a close ally of Trump.
A group of Democratic senators led by Elizabeth Warren had warned that a Warner Bros. deal risked being “tainted by political favoritism and corruption,” urging the Justice Department to review it based on the law and the facts.
Larry Ellison’s financial guarantee was what finally won over the Warner Bros. board, sealing Paramount’s victory in a fierce bidding war with Netflix.
The combined company will control a broad list of assets, including CNN, Warner Bros. Pictures and streaming service HBO Max.
But the federal signature doesn’t end the deal’s legal risk.
A coalition of about 10 states led by California is preparing an antitrust lawsuit that could end this month, Bloomberg has reported.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said this week that the purchase “remains an active investigation.” The European Commission is also considering the merger.
Hollywood is worried about the deal.
Hundreds of actors and directors have signed a letter opposing the merger, warning it would stifle production in an industry already battered by years of consolidation and cost-cutting.
The Department of Justice played down these fears directly, arguing that the evidence did not show that the merger would shrink production.
The saga began last year, when streaming giant Netflix and Paramount went to war over Warner Bros. and its prized catalog.
A wary Tinseltown reluctantly lined up behind Netflix as the lesser of two evils, only to see Paramount keep upping its bid until the streamer left.
