Paramount chief David Ellison, after a fierce year-long battle, is finally about to get his hands on Warner Bros. Discovery — in the most expensive takeover in Hollywood history.
\n\nOn Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who is overseeing the antitrust case aimed at blocking the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal approved Paramount’s settlement with the 12 Democratic state attorneys general who brought the case to resolve the litigation.
\n\nParamount has tentatively set next Tuesday, Oct. 6, to close the merger, according to regulatory filings. The companies announced later Wednesday that that’s indeed the plan.
\n\nThe order approving the settlement by Martínez-Olguín was the final remaining barrier to Paramount’s debt-fueled $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, after it had been cleared by regulators in 68 jurisdictions worldwide including the Justice Department.
\n\n“[T]he Court finds the proposed consent decree represents a reasonable factual and legal resolution of the dispute,” Martínez-Olguín wrote in her order. She determined that the proposed settlement agreement “reflects a procedurally sound resolution.”
\n\n“The parties reached their agreement following highly contested, however brief, litigation, and they reached their agreement following what they report to have been several rounds of in-depth negotiations,” the judge wrote.
\n\nThe merged Paramount-WBD will bring…
Original source: https://variety.com/