Paramount Skydance’s try and purchase AEW’s parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery, took an enormous step in the appropriate direction for Paramount as the US Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has given the green light for the $111 billion merger to go ahead.
Politico have confirmed that the merger can happen without requiring any divestitures, behavioral remedies or concessions, and that the transaction would not pose a threat to either competition or American consumers. This goes against the open letter opposing the deal that was signed by greater than 5,500 people, who all stated that the merger would end in reduced competition within the entertainment space, less jobs, and better prices for the typical American customer. In keeping with Variety, a number of the signatures were from the likes of Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, and Ben Stiller, but with this major hurdle out of the best way, Paramount Skydance are actually one step closer to securing the deal they have been searching for.
The legal troubles surrounding the deal aren’t over yet though, because the deal continues to be under investigation by the California Department of Justice, and other state attorney generals can still sue to dam the deal despite the Antitrust Division’s decision.
As for what this all means for AEW, that continues to be up within the air and the corporate’s fate won’t be fully known until each the merger is complete, and AEW’s current media rights take care of WBD expires in December 2027, or if the additional yr option is activated December 2028. With that said, AEW President Tony Khan is reportedly very optimistic about being under the Paramount-WBD umbrella and appears forward to the longer term. It was also reported at the beginning of June that Khan saw Paramount because the more favorable option when it got here to the WBD bidding war, with the opposite major bidder being Netflix, which might have likely been worse for AEW provided that service’s partnership with WWE.