Shareholder Vote for Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal Won’t Be the Final Word on This Dangerous Mega-Merger

On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders voted to accept Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion bid to acquire the news and entertainment company. The merger of these two companies would create a media colossus with CBS, CNN, HBO, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures — among other major media properties — all under one roof.

The vote follows a week of protests against the deal led by a coalition of First Amendment advocates, unions, democracy defenders and even famous Hollywood actors and directors who say that the deal would give one company the power and incentives to raise prices, lay off thousands of workers and limit consumer options, while giving one family — the Ellisons — the power to shape public discourse to suit their political agenda and that of their allies in the Trump White House.

Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron said:

“Today, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted for their short-term financial gains, not for the public good. While shareholders voted against fat pay packages for departing executives — a symbolic rebuke, since the board doesn’t have to listen to them — they’ve opened the door to wholesale layoffs across the news and entertainment industry, more propaganda in news coverage, higher prices for consumers and fewer choices for audiences across the United States and around the world. But shareholders don’t get the final word.

“That’s why we have antitrust enforcers and courts of law. With Trump officials cheering on this deal, state attorneys general must investigate this massive industry consolidation and step in to stop Paramount’s takeover. This mega-merger will diminish creativity and diversity in entertainment, weaken journalists’ ability to expose wrongdoing and hold those in power accountable and further endanger our democracy. It also concentrates far too much media power in the hands of one company and one family, the Ellisons.

“This corrupt merger is far from a done deal. Just because Paramount shareholders won’t take a stand against billionaire and White House control of the media, it doesn’t mean we can’t. While Paramount is flaunting its corruption and fêting Trump officials, we’re standing with the workers and artists at the heart of the news and entertainment industries — and with the American public, which deserves more than an ever-shrinking circle of control over what they see, hear and read.”

Background:
April has seen widespread and growing popular opposition to the Paramount/WBD merger. Last week, nearly 4,000 professionals across the film and television industry signed an open letter declaring their opposition to the pending deal.

On Wednesday, Free Press and the American Economic Liberties Project hosted a press call with former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, Writers Guild of America West President Michele Mulroney, former CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta and Oscar-winning director David Borenstein to detail the many reasons this deal should not go through and call on state attorneys general to investigate and oppose the merger. Free Press and allied organizations also delivered 171,000 signed petitions to Rob Bonta’s office, urging the California attorney general to investigate.

On Thursday morning, protesters gathered with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Congressman Dan Goldman outside WBD’s New York City headquarters, where they urged action to stop this dangerous merger from going forward. In addition, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a statement via social media: “Today, as Warner Bros. and Paramount shareholders vote, New York City is on record: this merger should be stopped.”