EU clears Paramount-Warner merger with conditions
July 23, 2026 11.43 Europe/London By Julian Clover


The European Commission has conditionally approved Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, removing one of the final regulatory hurdles facing the deal in Europe.

The approval is contingent on Paramount terminating its long-standing European film distribution agreement with Universal Pictures. Under the commitments accepted by the Commission, the company will have 13 months after the transaction closes to exit the arrangement.

The Commission said the remedy addresses concerns that the merger would otherwise have concentrated the European theatrical distribution of films from Paramount, Universal and Disney under common distribution arrangements.

The EU clearance comes despite mounting legal challenges in the United States. Earlier this month, California and 11 other states filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the merger, arguing that combining two of Hollywood’s largest studios would reduce competition in film and television distribution.

A US federal judge has temporarily halted completion of the transaction while the case proceeds, delaying Paramount’s planned closing timetable. If the acquisition is not completed by the end of September, Paramount faces contractual payments of around $7 million a day to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders, according to Bloomberg.

The transaction also remains under scrutiny in the UK, where the government has indicated it is considering a public interest intervention over media plurality concerns.

The European approval nevertheless marks a significant milestone for the proposed merger, leaving the US legal challenge as the most immediate obstacle to completion.