Paramount delays Warner Bros. merger amid legal roadblocks

Published July 24, 2026 8:10pm ET | Updated July 24, 2026 8:10pm ET



Paramount Skydance agreed to delay its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for up to 10 months on Friday as the court examines the merger’s legality in the face of a lawsuit led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Paramount said it would halt the merger until either the remedy of its legal battle with the state attorneys general who sued to block the merger or June 1, 2027, whichever date comes sooner. Paramount and the plaintiff attorneys general in the case agreed the merger “shall not close, be consummated, or otherwise be completed” until that time, and Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, who is presiding over the case, signed off on the agreement Friday.

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