The Justice Department approved Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discoveryon Friday.
Federal antitrust regulators cleared the blockbuster media merger without demanding a single concession, Politico reported.
They refused to require divestitures, which force merging companies to sell off specific assets to preserve market competition, according to the outlet.
The feds also skipped asking for so-called behavioral remedies, an anti-trust legal term for conditions that dictate exactly how a newly formed corporation must operate.
The combined empire now houses Paramount, CNN, Warner Bros. Pictures and the HBO Max streaming service under one roof.
Paramount CEO David Ellison secured the approval after a two-hour grilling by antitrust attorneys three weeks ago, Politico reported.
His father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, maintains a close alliance with President Donald Trump and the federal blessing ends a key hurdle for the new media giant. The deal still needs sign-off by European Union and UK regulators, two key markets.
Paramount says the massive combination gives it the firepower to battle tech giants in the streaming wars.
The company expects the deal to generate $6 billion in savings achieved by eliminating overlapping operations.
Paramount executives claim those operational tweaks will largely spare the workforce, but Hollywood unions have disputed the contention.
Entertainment workers fear the massive consolidation will trigger devastating industry layoffs, while labor leaders warn the merger hands too much power to a single giant and shrinks opportunities for creators.
The deal still faces a potentially significant legal threat. States including New York and California are readying to sue to block the merger, according to Reuters.
Earlier this year, Paramount staved off a rival bid from Netflix for Warner Bros.
Paramount executives accused Netflix of funding a “scorched-earth” lobbying campaign to sink the deal, an allegation the streaming giant denied.
The post DOJ signs off on $111B Paramount takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery appeared first on New York Post.
