GLOBAL MEDIA M&A

Northern District of California grants a 14-day restraining order; the Aug. 3 injunction hearing shapes up as the decisive test for the roughly $111 billion deal

A U.S. federal court has temporarily halted the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). On July 20, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, sitting in Oakland, granted a 14-day temporary restraining order barring the two companies from closing their deal.

美 법원, 파라마운트-워너 합병 급제동…14일 임시중지명령
미국 캘리포니아 북부연방법원, 12개 주 반독점 소송에서 파라마운트 스카이댄스–워너브러더스디스커버리의 1,110억 달러 합병에 14일 임시중지명령(TRO). 8월 3일 예비금지명령 심리가 합병의 성패 갈려.
K엔터테크허브 (K-EnterTech Hub)Jung Han

The order came in an antitrust suit brought by 12 state attorneys general, who argue the combination would weaken competition in the basic-cable and theatrical-distribution markets. In merger cases the preliminary-injunction stage is often decisive: without an injunction a deal closes and becomes nearly impossible to unwind, while an injunction tends to unravel the transaction before the underlying case ever reaches trial.