UK clears Paramount’s $110 billion Warner Bros. deal

Britain on Thursday cleared Paramount Skydance's ↗ 1.71% $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery ↘ 0.03% on competition grounds, removing one of the final major regulatory hurdles for the largest media deal in history.globalbankingandfinance+1

CMA Approval and Public Interest Decision

The Competition and Markets Authority concluded its Phase 1 investigation just ahead of its August 7 deadline, finding the merger does not present a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition in the UK. The regulator had opened its formal inquiry on June 10 after a months-long stakeholder consultation period.reuters+3

The UK government also said it would not intervene in the deal on public interest grounds after Paramount strengthened its assurances about programming and news provision in Britain. This resolves a separate concern raised in late June by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who had warned she was "minded to intervene" over media plurality issues, citing the combination of CBS, CNN, HBO, and TNT Sports under a single owner.thehill+2

Regulatory Path to Completion

Thursday's clearance follows prior approvals from the U.S. Department of Justice, which concluded in June that the merger "is unlikely to cause detriment to competition or American consumers," and the European Commission, which gave its nod in July. Warner Bros. Discovery stockholders approved the transaction in April, with the companies targeting a close in the third quarter of 2026.cnbc+2

Legal Challenge Remains

Despite the regulatory progress, the deal still faces a legal obstacle in the United States. A California federal court has frozen the merger until at least August 17 while it considers an antitrust challenge brought by a group of state attorneys general. The outcome of that proceeding remains the most immediate barrier to closing the transaction that would reshape the global entertainment landscape by uniting Paramount's film and television assets with Warner Bros.' studios, HBO, and CNN.miamarket