Paramount settles with 12 states to clear path for $111bn Warner Bros. Discovery deal

Paramount has settled with 12 state attorneys general to remove a major legal block on its $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.

A source confirmed to Variety that the deal is done. Bloomberg was first to report the news, followed by The Wall Street Journal, according to Variety.

The agreement clears one of the last big hurdles to closing the merger. It followed days of marathon negotiations, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

The 12-state coalition was led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. The states sued to block the deal even though it had already been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Their case is an antitrust challenge, meaning a legal argument that a merger would hurt competition. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin granted a 28-day restraining order after finding the states had made a strong case of harm in basic cable and cinema markets.

Paramount then agreed to pause the transaction until a full trial rather than fight over a short-term injunction, meaning a court order to delay the deal. That trial was set for 2 March 2027.

Time mattered. Paramount was due to start paying a $7 million daily ticking fee on 1 October, a penalty-style payment that grows for each day a deal stays unclosed.

Settlement talks covered jobs, programmes and newsrooms. They included Paramount's commitments to stay in California and to keep up production levels, according to Variety.

They also covered editorial oversight of CBS and CNN, the two broadcast and cable news operations that would sit under the same owner after a merger. Paramount had threatened to leave California for Texas or Tennessee as pressure to settle, Variety reported.

What makes this stand out is how unusual the state fight was. Federal approval does not always end the argument. Here, the states pushed on and won a pause from the court.

For viewers, this means the combination moves closer. Nothing changes on screen yet, and the companies must still finalise the closing steps.