A judge on Friday heard arguments on the states' bid to pause the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, but did not issue a ruling.
Well the judge seems to buy the state's argument more than Paramount's, so that's a positive thus far.
Also not helped that apparently they asked for assistance paying/avoiding paying the multi-million dollar "ticking fee" if the deal isn't concluded by the end of September, which apparently didn't go down well.
So the reason why Paramount were able to finally get the WBD shareholders to accept their demands was to offer them an additional $7m a day in fees if the sale isn't concluded by September 30th, now it looks like the deal won't be concluded (either due to a temporary restraining order preventing them from doing so, or the impact of this and the other court cases), they are now trying to get the state to help get them out of this financial obligation that Paramount themselves made in the first place.
Considering the information we now have about Oracle's cratering finances, it kind of seems that Paramount were relying on getting the entire deal concluded by 22nd July, but that's looking increasingly unlikely. The fact that Paramount's legal team had to specifically promise that they wouldn't conclude the sale by that date anyway if no TRO was placed on them is... telling. Just saying, considering how they got out of a legal case in Oregon by just refusing to share their financial information, I think the court in this case might think they'd just speed up the end of the deal just to block the lawsuits preventing the merger. As the judge says, this egg can't be unscrambled, the deal when started is going to be incredibly hard to undo, which I think is what Paramount is counting on here.
The judge listed to about 80 minutes of oral arguments.
The judge overseeing the state attorneys general challenge to the ParamountâWarner Bros. Discovery merger did not issue a ruling on an emergency motion to pause the transaction, but said that she would do so by July 22.
U.S. District Judge Araceli MartĂnez-OlguĂn heard arguments from both sides in an 80-minute hearing in Oakland on Friday. The states are seeking a temporary restraining order that would bar the companies from closing the deal for up to 28 days. That would be a prelude to a further ruling on a preliminary injunction, which would pause the transaction indefinitely, or until the legal process plays out.
Jeffrey Kessler, representing Paramount, told the judge that the transaction will not close by the 22nd, which is Wednesday. That is around the time that the European Union is expected to issue its decision on the $110 billion transaction.
Much of the hearing was devoted to argument on how narrowly the market for theatrical and cable distribution should be defined, as the states claimed that they had shows that the transaction on its face is illegal.
Plus side, the judge is someone who worked on behalf of the Writers Guild in the past (who also suing Paramount for the same reasons in a separate case), which is something that Paramount have argued makes her biased against them. Also the various AGs had actual graphs, statistics and such to demonstrate mathematically why this deal was going to screw over so many people.
Downside, a lot of other official people in other countries appear to be okay with the merger (Australia for example), despite the overt illegality of Paramount's representatives' actions. Could be some illogical thing happens and she rules in Paramount's favour, but then, we'll just have to see next Wednesday.
Oracle stock has sunk to the ocean floor, and it's unclear what will bring it back afloat.
Quick insight: Oracle stock has now plunged 64% from its September 2025 all-time high, a brutal total market cap loss of almost $600 billion. The shares are down 50% over the past year.
The crash has vaporized a good deal of Ellison's net worth while he's backstopping his son David Ellison's big bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) from Paramount (PSKY). Â
Okay, so context: Larry Ellison is percentage-wise, the largest contributor for his son David's attempted purchase of WBD, his offering his personal guarrantee of ÂŁ40bn in Oracle stock to make the deal go through (for legal reasons he had to be the largest donor, as that would lead to the poltiical issues of the Saudis etc. having the larger portion of the company).
But, as of today, Larry's company Oracle has cratered in value, loosing $600bn since last September, with YahooFinance not seeing any way for the company to regain its value.
This has led some to speculate that, if it seems that it's going to become a protracted legal battle (or Battles, as there are currently three different lawsuits potentially about to start, from 12 attorney generals, the WGA, and from Paramount's own shareholders) Larry may decide to just pay the $7bn reverse termination fee to just drop the deal to save money in the longer term, as due to David's previous (as many have called it, extremely stupid) deal that if the purchase wasn't completed by September 30th they'd be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars a quarter (roughly $7m a day) in fees to the shareholders.
Now, this is kind of speculation (kinda, Larry's money is draining so fast that some journalists are saying Oracle could be responsible for the next Wall Street Crash), but it's all dependant on if the OVERTLY crooked Trump FCC (who notably had staff who had doubts about the merger, only to be overruled by the heads of the department who received expensive gifts from David Ellison for doing so) from just pushing through the deal before the September deadline (because the Ellisons also offered Trump bribes for doing so).
If, best case scenario, the Ellisons call it quits and try to walk away?
WBD is divided in half like they were planning to do before Paramount sabotaged the Netflix deal, and then Paramount it would have to be cut to bits to cover the Ellisons' already SUBSTANTIAL debts. Thus leading to Netflix, Apple, Disney etc. to snatch up the parts they like for themselves.
Hm, I was wondering where the new solicit were today, but then I remembered SDCC is next week and they presumably have new books they want to announce there.
As Paramount Skydance's deal to take over Warner Bros. Discovery is still pending, WBD CEO David Zaslav filed to sell Warner Bros. Discovery
Many seem to he taking David Zaslav selling tens of millions of dollars in WBD stock this past week in response to the issues facing the Parmount-WBD merger to be a sign it's doomed... But we'll see how this goes.
Attorneys general from 12 states are suing to block the Paramount-Warner Bros deal they say violates antitrust law
Should be noted that the 12 Attorney Generals wouldn't have moved forward with their lawsuit if they didn't think that there was an actual legal basis for their argument, it's pretty much dependant on if they can get a judge is actually amenable to their argument (the Ellisons have already tried to have a judge recuse himself from the base because they think their having done pro-union work for the Writers Guild makes him biased against them... which, again, if you think that that's a potential factor here, the Ellisons are definitely up to something).
Paramount's $110B takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery faces weeks of regulatory uncertainty in Britain, where Parliament has closed for the s
Basically they were meant to provide a resolution to whether the UK government will launch an antitrust enquiry (in addition to plans on taxing US streaming services) earlier this week, but no announcement was made and the MPs have all gone on holiday for several weeks...
Now, Paramount doesn't technically NEED the UK government to OK the merger to proceed, but considering how continuing to film in the UK is contingent on meeting their demands regarding not firing UK-based staff etc. they can't NOT have their approval either. Add into that the aforementioned plans on taxing steaming content (which I'm not happy about either in all honesty) and how the imminent new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is also similarly not happy about the merger, things look like they're going to get complicated for the Ellisons.
Plus it's looking that the September 30th deadline they set themselves to complete the deal looks increasingly uncertain.
vaporwave
2087
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
titsay