Paramount agrees to pause merger with CNN parent Warner Bros. for months

Paramount has pumped the brakes on its $111 billion merger with CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery until next June at the latest, as a federal judge weighs an antitrust lawsuit from a coalition of states seeking to block the deal.

The pause was confirmed Friday in a court document filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Paramount and the state attorneys general said they reached an agreement to freeze the deal until five days after the judge rules on the merits of the lawsuit, or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ordered Paramount to halt the merger for at least two weeks while the court considers ruling on a preliminary injunction. Martínez-Olguín extended the order by another two weeks on Thursday.

The agreement comes less than a day after the European Union approved the deal, one of the final regulatory hurdles Paramount would have to clear.

If approved, the merger would be the largest in Hollywood history. Combining Paramount and the Warner businesses would stitch together CBS, Atlanta-based TNT and TBS, Discovery, HBO, HGTV and other networks, along with intellectual property such as DC Comics and the Harry Potter film franchise. The combined company would have two major news operations under its belt — CBS News and CNN — and two streaming services.

Paramount had previously targeted closing the deal as early as July 22. If it doesn’t close by Sept. 30, Paramount agreed to pay its ticking fee of 25 cents per share per quarter until closing.

Earlier in July, a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block the acquisition. California, Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey and New York are among the 12 states involved in the lawsuit. Georgia, which remains a key nerve center for Warner Bros., is not one of the parties.