Judge orders Paramount to temporarily pause Warner Bros acquisition

By Jody Godoy and Dawn Chmielewski

Mon, July 20, 2026 astatine 12:12 PM CDT 1 min read

By Jody Godoy and Dawn Chmielewski

July 20 (Reuters) - A conjugation of states led ‌by California won a intermission of ‌Paramount's $110 cardinal acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery connected ​Monday, aft they argued letting the merger adjacent would irreparably harm competition.

California and 11 states sued connected July 13, arguing the woody ‌would make ⁠a media behemoth with the powerfulness to rise prices successful movie ⁠and television.

If the woody is allowed to close, Paramount would soon statesman cutting jobs ​and sharing ​sensitive accusation with ​Warner Bros., actions that ‌are hard to undo if the merger is yet recovered to beryllium illegal, the states argued.

The lawsuit, filed successful Oakland national court, threatens to derail Paramount CEO David ‌Ellison's bid to alteration ​his institution into a ​major rival ​of Netflix and Disney.

Paramount has said ‌the suit distorts settled ​antitrust law, ​and that delaying the transaction would lone harm amusement workers who person already ​suffered done ‌years of manufacture disruption.

(Reporting by Jody ​Godoy successful New York and Dawn ​Chmielewski successful Los Angeles)