Ellison Tells Staff Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Could Close in About Two Weeks

Since Paramount and 12 state attorneys general announced their antitrust settlement Monday, September 21, the company has moved fast to signal the $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal is close to done. CEO David Ellison told staff in a Monday memo, obtained by Business Insider, that Paramount now has "complete clearance for this merger and can move toward closing," and said the company is "tentatively planning" to finalize the purchase in "approximately two weeks."

That timeline matters because of money on the clock. Business Insider reported Paramount had been racing to close by the end of September to avoid a "ticking fee" owed to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders of roughly $7 million a day, or $650 million a quarter, starting October 1 if the deal wasn't finalized. A two-week close would beat that deadline.

Monday also brought a second resolution: Paramount settled a separate lawsuit filed by the Writers Guild of America, according to Business Insider and TheWrap. Details of that settlement weren't spelled out in the disclosures, but it removes another litigant that had been fighting to block the deal alongside the states.

What the states got, and didn't

The settlement with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state AGs requires Paramount to release 30 films in theaters annually for the first two years of the combined company and 32 per year for the three years after, according to the Los Angeles Times and TheWrap. At least 20% must be "tentpole" films with budgets of $50 million or more, per Business Insider. Miss the quota and Paramount owes $30 million per missing film, gets a six-month grace period, and then must divest the Miramax studio if it still falls short.

Paramount also committed to at least $300 million more a year in U.S. film and TV production, on top of existing spending, over the next five years, and pledged not to sell or close either the Paramount lot on Melrose Avenue or the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, according to Bonta's office.

The deal creates a five-member editorial oversight board for CNN and CBS News, made up of working or retired journalists with at least 10 years of experience, with no more than two members from the same political party and three-year terms, according to TheWrap. The settlement documents don't clarify how the board would actually enforce its recommendations if Paramount ignored them, a gap the Los Angeles Times flagged directly.

Bonta was blunt that the settlement isn't an endorsement. "This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger," he said at a Monday press conference covered by the Los Angeles Times and TheWrap. "We believe further consolidation in markets that are central to American economic life doesn't serve the American economy, consumers or competition well." He said he preferred resolving it "in the boardroom instead of the courtroom."

The bigger picture: one man, a lot of Hollywood

Business Standard's profile of Ellison, drawing on New York Times reporting, captures the scale of what's about to change hands: Batman, Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, Captain Kirk and SpongeBob SquarePants all under one CEO, alongside CNN, CBS News, HBO Max and Paramount+.

Film financier Joseph M. Singer, who publicly opposed the deal, told Business Standard he still worries about what that concentration means. "I believe David's intentions are good and his ambitions genuine," Singer said, "but I remain concerned that this concentration of power is not in the interests of our business. I hope I am proved wrong." That's a fair concern from someone who's watched studio consolidation for decades, and it's one antitrust law is generally built to police through market competition, not content decisions.

A campaign opposing the deal, cited by Business Standard, said it "vehemently oppose[s] the agreement to allow David Ellison to take over Warner Bros. Discovery." The Ellison family's ties to the Trump White House, including a dinner David Ellison hosted in April described by Business Standard as "honoring the Trump White House," have also drawn scrutiny from Democrats and Hollywood figures wary of the combined company's reach over CNN and CBS.

None of that has stopped the deal on the facts as reported. Bonta's own office says the settlement is court-enforceable for five years. A federal judge still has to approve the agreement before Paramount can close, according to the Los Angeles Times, and Ellison's own two-week timeline is described in his memo as tentative, not confirmed. If the judge signs off on schedule, Paramount would become the first company since Comcast and NBCUniversal to fold a legacy broadcast news division and a premium cable network into the same corporate structure as a movie studio and two streaming services.