UPDATE: The pause became a full freeze. Paramount has agreed not to close until a trial verdict, as late as June 2027, and the August 3 hearing described below has been cancelled.
The deal that was days away from closing is now frozen.
Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín on Monday granted the 12 states’ emergency request and paused the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. The freeze lasts 14 days, and she can extend it another 14.
So the scoreboard is even. Last week, this same judge threw out the subscribers’ attempt to freeze the deal. This week, the states landed theirs. Paramount 1, blockers 1.
Why This Wasn’t A Shock
Paramount saw it coming. At Friday’s hearing, its own lawyer offered to hold off closing for 30 days anyway, and the judge pointed out Paramount had basically admitted a short pause wouldn’t hurt it.
The pause was the easy part. It is not the fight that matters.
August 3 Is The Fight That Matters
The pause is a pause button. The injunction is the kill switch.
If the judge grants the states a preliminary injunction, the merger stays frozen for months, and deals like this usually die waiting. If she denies it, the deal closes fast and it’s over.
She hears that argument August 3. Paramount wants a ruling by early September, because on October 1 its penalty clock starts running at roughly $650 million per quarter.
(Update: That showdown never happened. Days later, both sides agreed to skip the injunction fight and go straight to a full trial instead.)
What It Means For DC
Everything stays frozen at least into August. Every domino my insiders have described, Gunn, De Luca and Abdy, the Batman plans, keeps waiting.
Nobody summed up the mood better than Zack Snyder. When fans chanted for Justice League 2 at Saturday’s Frank Miller event, Snyder shot back, “they’re all f’d up, so don’t forget that part,” a jab everybody in the building caught. CBN was there.
Now the whole company is on ice with them. And that cloud follows everyone to Comic-Con this week.
Next date to circle: July 31, when the trial schedule gets filed.
