Antitrust

Paramount's Acquisition of Warner Bros. Wouldn't Be the End of Hollywood or Press Freedom

While there are legitimate antitrust concerns regarding the merger, doomsday predictions are unwarranted.

Jack Nicastro | 4.14.2026 4:55 PM

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(Illustration: Adani Samat/Mikhail Primakov /Dreamstime)

Paramount Skydance's planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is being protested by much of Hollywood.

As of Tuesday afternoon, over 2,000 film and television professionals—including Mark Ruffalo, J.J. Abrams, Denis Villeneuve, and Ben Stiller—had signed an open letter opposing Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. The letter warns that the deal would reduce competition in the industry and accelerate consolidation, which the signatories say is responsible for "the disappearance of the mid-budget film, the erosion of independent distribution, [and] the collapse of the international sales market."

In December, Warner Bros. initially accepted Netflix's $83 billion bid for Warner Bros. studio, HBO, and HBO Max. In an attempt to dissuade Warner Bros. from accepting Netflix's offer, Paramount warned that the deal would not survive federal antitrust scrutiny and argued that their merger was more likely to be approved. (President Donald Trump publicly stated he would be involved in antitrust........

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