Twelve States Sue to Block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger a Month After DOJ Cleared It

Twelve state attorneys general, led by California's Rob Bonta, filed an antitrust suit in the Northern District of California on July 13, 2026 to block Paramount's roughly $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, and asked for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. The Justice Department approved the deal in June after an eight-month review; the Wall Street Journal reported that senior officials fast-tracked the approval before career antitrust attorneys weighing a challenge could intervene, which the outgoing antitrust chief denied. The states allege a Clayton Act violation, arguing the combination of two top-five studios would raise prices and reduce output. Paramount is controlled by David Ellison and financed by his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Trump ally and adviser; Trump has publicly praised the family and has said he wants CNN, which the deal would transfer, "to go in a normal path."

The dispute puts a federal merger clearance involving a presidentially favored buyer of two major news divisions - CBS News and CNN - into the hands of state enforcers. Whatever the antitrust merits, the sequence tests whether federal antitrust review remained independent of the President's stated preferences about news coverage.

The FCC has not yet approved the transaction. The states' request for emergency relief is pending; Paramount owes Warner shareholders roughly $650 million for every 90 days of delay beginning October 1.