Judge pauses Paramount’s Warner Bros. takeover
We just won a court order stopping the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. while our lawsuit continues. We’re going to keep fighting to keep costs down for consumers, protect jobs, and stop this illegal merger.
Thank you! It's about time there's enforcement of anti-trust laws. This merger should NEVER happen. Even Skydance-Ellison shouldn't have been allowed to destroy Paramount-CBS.
Ms. James, I really wish every single Democrat in America had the same kind of fire you have. Perhaps someday they'll wake up. 🙏🏼🇺🇸🇺🇦👊🏼
Letitia James is a kick-ass AG! Love that for NY!
Thank you for taking meaningful action against the everyday injustices
Thank you! You’re an amazing person who obviously loves her country and never gives up even at personal loss. We need an army of people like you.
Good work NYC AG. Trump was wrong and evil to go after you. Glad your team chased that born in Empire State rapist and bribe taker out of NY. Great you closed his phony charity.
Reuters: JUDGE ORDERS PARAMOUNT TO TEMPORARILY PAUSE WARNER BROS ACQUISITION IN CALIFORNIA LAWSUIT TO ALLOW FURTHER PROCEEDINGS
1. VOTE BLUE. 2. Demand Democrats to pass laws to BREAK APART the media giants.
meanwhile shares in Oracle (where the Ellison family made their billions) are down 30% in the past month. Is that bad?🤡
I hope this stays in legal hell for at least six months so that Democrats can look into the almost certainly illegal deal when they get into office and kill it completely.
Please hold this up indefinitely!
Also today NY AG Leticia James announced that NY had also won a temporary pause in Warner Bros/Paramount acquisition, same as CA!
proposed Paramount-WBD merger has temporary restraining order, putting the deal on pause for 14 days. The move comes after state attorneys general led by California's Rob Bonta brought a lawsuit against the deal due to antitrust concerns. Paramount has defended the deal as "pro-competitive."
Bravo to all involved plus a shout out to the WGA @wgawest.bsky.social and @wgaeast.bsky.social. Stay the course. Hold fast.
I actually think we can stop this.
Well that’s some (temporary) good news
Ooooooooooh shit. Absolutely love when they get shitted on
JUST IN: A federal judge has paused the Paramount/Warner Bros. merger, saying it likely violates antitrust laws. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
A judge ordered a temporary halt to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger on Monday, as a state coalition argues it would violate federal antitrust law, leading to higher prices and fewer movies and TV shows. variety.com/2026/film/ne...
Thanks for always including the link to the actual rulings for us nerds who like to read them.
Yes, it violates antitrust laws. Oracle & the rest of the MAGAt tech bros companies also violate antitrust laws. Break them up as well.
State AG’s doing to work our DOJ won’t
WooHoo!!! The plan (the trump playbook): DELAY, DELAY, DELAY until it's no longer viable or feasible for Elisons to spend money on this nightmare.
Thank Teddy Roosevelt for antitrust laws.
Me, holding up one of those #1 fan foam hands but for the antitrust laws
oh no, would be a shame if this delay coincides with Oracle losing its shirt on AI resulting in Larry Ellison's media domination ambitions crumbling
The states' intervention worked for now.
Matt Stoller excitedly looking up from eating a big pie tin full of shit
Every corporation should be kept small enough to drag it into the bath tub as needed
Crazy that it took state AGs banding together for some judge in the world to FINALLY see what a big bag of fuck this merger is. I hope regulators in the UK are paying attention to this.
I think everyone knew it broke antitrust laws. Including the people who proposed it. They just assume they can ignore the law if they bribe Trump enough.
Great promo for Coyote vs. Acme
glad someone remembered these still exist
BREAKING: A judge just granted a temporary restraining order against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. This means that the merger is officially PAUSED. That's a WIN thanks to the state attorneys general who stood up and pushed back. Let's keep up the fight.
Also, Larry Ellison's company Oracle is taking major hits from AI so his piggy bank to pay for his sons stupid ideas is shrinking, so feel free to smile about that!
I now have this mental image of the Ellisons and Bari Weiss raging in a conference room.
"He who controls the media, controls the mind" - Jim Morrison
Ellisons are on the hook for approx 7 million/day if the merger doesn't close by late September/early October. Curious to know the level of pain those Saudi/UAE sovereign funds can withstand just so they can control CNN.
I hope. I wish that same judge would break up JBS foods too.
Thank you Tish James and Co!
It’s crazy that the merger has gotten this far in the first place. It’s so blatantly terrible for everything and everyone. It’s not even trying to hide.
Great great news for all of us
The "nevertheless she persisted" lady would like a word. 👏👏 Senator Warren @warren.senate.gov
BREAKING: A federal judge has temporarily blocked Paramount’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, granting a request from a coalition of 12 states led by California. The court will consider a longer injunction on Aug. 3.
GOOD! ELLISON CORRUPTION IS DISGUSTING. The entire family is ROTTEN to the core, & CRIMINALS They are obsessed with having absolute control over the media. They are PUPPETS FOR TRUMP. The ELLISONS, DESTROYED CBS. It’s now state run media propaganda network THIS MERGER MUST BE PERMANENTLY BLOCKED
Great work by these state AG’s. Led by @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov and shout out to my state AG @krismayes.bsky.social for joining. Let your AG’s know you support their hard work.
I hope it sticks. This acquisition is a threat to democracy!
Amazing. We actually had a win for anti-trust under the Trump administration.
WooHoo!!! The plan (the trump playbook): DELAY, DELAY, DELAY until it's no longer viable or feasible for Elisons to spend money on this nightmare.
We need to end monopolies in this country. cbwrong.blogspot.com/2026/07/when...
Under this Regime, merger review is simply a matter of getting Trump's blessing. I'm glad state AGs are trying to enjoin anticompetitive mergers, because they're the real enforcers now.
GOOD! ELLISON CORRUPTION IS DISGUSTING. The entire family is ROTTEN to the core, & CRIMINALS They are obsessed with having absolute control over the media. They are PUPPETS FOR TRUMP. The ELLISONS, DESTROYED CBS. It’s now state run media propaganda network THIS MERGER MUST BE PERMANENTLY BLOCKED
At least we're making them sweat.
It is lawyers and everyday citizens that are leading the fight against fascism.
Judge freezes $110B Paramount-WBD megamerger #econsky
This deal has to close by Oct (it 99% chance won't) or it's basically dead in the water & Paramount owe WBD a boatload of cash. Zaslav's only profitable plan relying on someone else fucking up their side of the paperwork is such a perfectly on-brand strategy for that forever-failing-upward dipshit
"The other commissioner who approved the Paramount merger, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, and his wife sat in a private skybox with Paramount CEO David Ellison and other executives from Paramount and CBS. Such seats sold for $125,000 a ticket..." www.propublica.org/article/para...
The corruption just doesn’t stop.
The corruption is appalling and illegal.
I think they're now expected to take bribes. The Trump administration will investigate anyone unwilling to be bribed. Honesty and integrity are woke.
Why not have a true headline? Commissioners take bribes?
I’m sure they will declare the gifts on their tax returns.
Dafuq. I can't even take a dollar tip in my government job.
Big win today. A federal judge temporarily halted the proposed Warner Bros. and Paramount merger while our lawsuit proceeds. This is a critical victory for consumers, for objective and independent journalism, and for the workers, actors, artists and fans of our country's film and tv industry.
All mergers need to stop. In fact, it’s time to start breaking up companies again.
Now keep Ellison in litigation for the next few years. Use discovery motions to uncover his corruption and alliance with trump. Once trump is gone, then the next AG (hopefully Jack Smith) should prosecute Ellison/Skydance and all associated with this.
Thank you. Excellent work!⚖️💙💐🙏 There are 12 AGs involved. Hopefully, that will expand to all 50 states.
Anti-trust laws still exist! They just need to be enforced!
Thank you and the other AGs for fighting this.
BREAKING: A judge just BLOCKED the $110B Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros Discovery merger with a TRO — after 12 state AGs filed an emergency request The Ellisons wanted to rush this closed before a court could see the evidence, now the case gets decided on the merits #blockthemerger -TN
Run the clock out on this merger till a legitimate FTC and DOJ are finally in place to actually enforce the laws and protect the American public from monopolization, price gouging, profiteering and “waste, fraud and abuse”. 🤨🤬🤨
That puts the MAGAmergers on their back foot for a while.
Netflix owner knew exactly what he was doing
Best piece of news all day! Thanks for all you and your team do for us. I appreciate you.
Let's keep it blocked. No more control for these billionaires.
They've shown that they will absolutely transform these mediums into state MAGA propaganda. After all, they don't need them to make money. The regime will repay them much more than they're losing on, for instance, Bari Weiss crashing 60 Minutes.
BREAKING: A federal judge has temporarily BLOCKED the mega-merger be/Paramount Skydance & Warner Bros. Discovery, finding it would violate antitrust laws. A big win for American consumers who want diversity of content & viewpoints, as well as reasonable prices for movies, streaming, & other media.
Hoping ‘temporarily’ becomes permanently! It’s getting ridiculous!
At least there's one federal judge who has good sense. A monopoly is rarely a good thing.
Good don’t allow the Ellisons more power
I think Dem congress and presidential candidates should run on strengthening and enforcing antitrust laws. People are definitely aware of the lack of choices
Thank You ELLISON CORRUPTION IS DISGUSTING.The entire family is ROTTEN to the core,& CRIMINALS They are obsessed with having absolute control over the media.They are PUPPETS FOR TRUMP The ELLISONS, DESTROYED CBS. It’s now state run media propaganda network THIS MERGER MUST BE Permanently BLOCKED
Another round of luxury gifts to FCC, no worries. “After voting for a Paramount merger, Commissioner Olivia Trusty took tickets worth over $12,000. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has accepted tickets worth at least $63,000.”
BREAKING: A judge has temporarily paused the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. Twelve state attorneys general requested a restraining order barring Paramount Skydance from closing their deal. And a judge has granted the request for two weeks to review the mega-merger. www.nbcnews.com/business/med...
A Paranoid Delusion? So if media owners collude, we could see 'live' video on every channel. A seamless CGI animation. People live on screen forever and die offstage. A perfect puppet government. As freshman arrive they are captured and rendered then stored in a secure location.
The fact that multiple STATES had to come together and sue to maybe stop two COMPANIES from merging should tell you everything you need to know about capitalism Capitalism means money is more powerful than laws Workers owning the means of production wouldnt do this Remove the parasites at the top
At least one judge still believes in following antitrust laws. Antitrust laws were designed to prevent monopolies like Paramount-Warner Bros from dominating the marketplace so people had choices. Unfortunately laws only work when the judicial system enforces them permanently instead of temporary.
@cnn.com may yet be saved. 🙏
Good. I hope it's terminated permanently.
Thinking about an MST3K line from “Mitchell.” “Well, you’re rich and white, I don’t see a problem with it.”
I do think this is absolutely a sauce for the gander sitch, after all Paramount and cronies tried to prevent the Netflix acquisition. I also think the corp mergers are out of hand in general & leading to Zorg-like pronouncements about firing a million bc of line numbers & not healthy ecosystems.
VICTORY IS AT HAND PLEEEAAAASE
NEW YORK (AP) — Judge says Paramount and Warner must halt merger for at least two weeks, granting states' request.
This kind of media megamerger used to be illegal. If they tried this in 1995, the deal would never have gotten off the ground. But now apparently there's no such thing as anti-trust law. Allowing telecom companies to merge into giants has been disastrous for everyone but shareholders.
Don’t play with us on this…stop them.
May it be halted in perpetuity!!!!!!!
That's not what Nick the agent told me
Hope the WB/Paramount merger stays blocked but at least this is something.
i hope the proposed wb/paramount merger stays blocked after two weeks so that WB might realize that merging with paramount is a stupid mistake and that they will never do that again 🙏🙏🙏
We are finally getting somewhere!!!!
Paramount Warner merger halted by federal judge. Even a delay of a few months could sink this merger. The financing based on Oracle stock as collateral is looking shaky as the stock price is down nearly 30% since this was proposed and -65% off ATH. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Oracle basically made its entire bet around datacenters for AI. They're pretty much the biggest partner for OpenAI on this and if OpenAI goes under from debt obligations maturing, Oracle will too. They've taken on tremendous unsustainable debt to finance the datacenter buildouts.
Good. I hope this deal burns to the ground.
I like when the law can't stop them, but capitalism itself does. That's the only time I like capitalism.
I guess Oracle did not see that coming.
Oligarch Ellison's Oracle already down to $123 right now. We'll see how low it goes in the next two weeks of the merger freeze. bsky.app/profile/esqu...
The US owes so much gratitude to people like Rob Bonta and Raúl Tórrez, who are putting their lives on the line to protect our government, our Democracy, and hence our people! 🙏🙏🙏
More bad news for the Michigan NIL budget.
Oligarch Ellison's Oracle already down to $123 right now. We'll see how low it goes in the next two weeks of the merger freeze. bsky.app/profile/esqu...
Please let it fail. The merge with Skydance is why Star Trek is cancelled
Because of our lawsuit, a judge just blocked the Paramount/Warner Bros. merger from continuing as we move forward with our case. Remember: When Trump's DOJ turns a blind eye to corporate greed, state AGs are stepping up to fight for you.
That's good to know. Some of these monopolies need to be broken up. There is such a thing as too big. It swallows up everything else and it yeilds too much influence.
You are doing fabulous work. Keep it up!(im in Mass)
The oligarchy can still be stopped and has to be stopped, one way or another.
Thank you! We see you 👀
A federal judge on Monday temporarily stopped Paramount from completing its $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery while considering a lawsuit that argues the deal violates antitrust laws, a disruption to one of the biggest media deals in history. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/b...
I'm always floored when these mergers predict lower costs for users/consumers when in fact, once they're done with downsizing their middle management and C suites, they immediately turn around and jack up costs. Every Single Time I can't be the only one who's seen this right?
Unfortunately, Paramount will appeal this all the way to the Supreme Court and then get what they want. Because, Roberts Court.
The Ellisons are being sued. They entered into an undisclosed agreement to overhaul CNN to better align with the Trump administration’s views on news media in exchange for political support for the transaction. A-l-l-e-g-e-d-l-y 🎥📺🗞️🤑 www.thewrap.com/industry-new...
I worked at Warner for 39 years...I live literally 3 blocks from this water tower. It'll crush my soul if Paramount wins this lawsuit.
The regime will no doubt try to punish this judge.
My office and attorneys general nationwide have secured an emergency order blocking the unlawful merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day.
Thank you for fighting for us everyday!! 💙
THANKS go to you and your team for the solid work you do every day for Californians and in many cases the rest of the country. You have our total support.
Thank you AG Bonta! California leading the way!
Thank You ELLISON CORRUPTION IS DISGUSTING.The entire family is ROTTEN to the core,& CRIMINALS They are obsessed with having absolute control over the media.They are PUPPETS FOR TRUMP The ELLISONS, DESTROYED CBS. It’s now state run media propaganda network THIS MERGER MUST BE Permanently BLOCKED
Hell yes, fuck 'em up.