Court Hears Argument on States’ Move to Pause Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger
Discovery merger, and said she would issue a ruling by next Wednesday. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin suggested at one point that Paramount had conceded...
Key points
- Discovery merger, and said she would issue a ruling by next Wednesday.
- Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin suggested at one point that Paramount had conceded that it will not suffer harm if a temporary restraining order is granted, which would put the merger on hold for up to 28 days.
- Paramount’s lead attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, argued that the states had failed to make the necessary case that the deal is anticompetitive.
- He argued that the success of recent releases like “F1,” from Apple, and “Project Hail Mary,” from Amazon MGM Studios, shows that the theatrical business is open to new entrants.
What happened
Discovery merger, and said she would issue a ruling by next Wednesday. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin suggested at one point that Paramount had conceded that it will not suffer harm if a temporary restraining order is granted, which would put the merger on hold for up to 28 days. Paramount’s lead attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, argued that the states had failed to make the necessary case that the deal is anticompetitive. He argued that the success of recent releases like “F1,” from Apple, and “Project Hail Mary,” from Amazon MGM Studios, shows that the theatrical business is open to new entrants. Citing the evidence put forward by Paramount, she asked Kessler: “Why doesn’t that just bolster the conclusion that there are serious questions here as to the legality of the merger?” She also focused on the difficulty of reversing the merger if it is allowed to proceed and later ruled to be unlawful, asking the parties to address the challenge of “unscrambling the egg.” Kessler made clear that the company is most focused on getting a ruling on a preliminary injunction by early September. He offered to stipulate that the deal will not close in the next 30 days if the parties would agree to a...
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