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'Antitrust Disaster' Looms as Warner Bros. Shareholders Approve Paramount Megamerger
"This megamerger will diminish creativity and diversity in entertainment, weaken journalists' ability to expose wrongdoing and hold those in power accountable, and further endanger our democracy," warned one expert.
Apr 23, 2026
Less than a year after the controversial marriage of Paramount and Skydance, the combined media company cleared another hurdle to growing even bigger, with Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders on Thursday "overwhelmingly" backing a proposed merger—which sparked fresh criticism of the $110 billion deal.
"Today, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted for their short-term financial gains, not for the public good," declared Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron. "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," Aaron continued. "That's why we have antitrust enforcers and courts of law."
The Paramount-Warner Bros. deal must be approved by US and international regulators. In an apparent bid to ease that process, Paramount CEO David Ellison—son of billionaire Republican megadonor Larry Ellison—is holding what opponents have dubbed a "corruption gala" honoring President Donald Trump on Thursday.
"With Trump officials cheering on this deal, state attorneys general must investigate this massive industry consolidation and step in to stop Paramount's takeover," Aaron argued. "This megamerger 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," he stressed. "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."
Potentially impacted workers are also speaking out. Last week, a group of Hollywood actors, directors, and producers published an open letter blasting the proposed merger. As the Los Angeles Times reported, during a Wednesday press briefing organized by Free Press and other critical groups, Michele Mulroney, president of the Writers Guild of America West, also sounded the alarm.
"This is already an incredibly consolidated industry where writers have seen merger after merger leave fewer and fewer companies in control of what our members can get paid to write," Mulroney said. "A combined Warner Bros. and Paramount would create a media behemoth with tremendous leverage to reduce content, to raise prices, to increase control of production, to suppress member compensation, worsen working conditions, and silence the voices of our members."
As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared that "this merger should be stopped," Jane Fonda's Committee for the First Amendment led a rally outside Warner Bros.' Manhattan headquarters early Thursday. The group called the shareholder vote "a serious setback—for our industry, for the workers who sustain it, for consumers, and for the fundamental democratic values that depend on a diverse and independent media landscape."
"But this merger is not a done deal—and this fight is far from over," the committee emphasized. "We've seen time and again that sustained pressure works. Efforts to challenge consolidation, from the proposed Tegna-Nexstar Media Group deal to scrutiny of Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster, have demonstrated that coordinated legal, political, and public advocacy can change outcomes, especially when state attorneys general step in to protect the public interest."
"We will continue pressing forward on every front," the group pledged. "A handful of powerful decision-makers should not be allowed to quietly reshape American media, culture, and creative life without accountability. We will keep speaking out for the workers and artists at the heart of this industry, and for the public, which deserves more than an ever-shrinking circle of control over what they see, hear, and read. This fight continues. And we fully intend to win."
Later Thursday, the committee, Free Press, and other organizations—including Common Cause, MoveOn, and Public Citizen—are planning to protest Ellison's dinner for Trump at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC at 5:30 pm ET.
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'Corruption Gala': Paramount CEO Hosting Honorary Dinner for Trump While Trying to Ram Through Megamerger
"If approved, this merger would give one family control over CBS, CNN, and TikTok—and the Ellisons have already promised President Trump that they would make sweeping changes to CNN."
Apr 21, 2026
A coalition of progressive organizations is organizing a protest against what they describe as a "corruption gala" being held by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison in honor of President Donald Trump.
According to a report published last week by Breaker Media, Ellison is planning to hold on "intimate gathering" this Thursday with the purpose of "honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House correspondents."
Ellison, who took over CBS in 2025 as part of the merger between Paramount and Skydance, is seeking approval for a $110 billion megamerger with Warner Bros. Discovery that would also give him control over CNN and has drawn opposition from antitrust advocates and Hollywood bigwigs.
In response to this event, seven progressive organizations—MoveOn, Common Cause, Committee for the First Amendment, Public Citizen, Free Press, Our Revolution, and Democracy Defenders Action—are planning demonstrations on April 23 outside the headquarters of the US Institute of Peace.
The groups said in a statement announcing the protest that Ellison's decision to honor Trump at an exclusive dinner is a "blatant conflict of interest" given that he is relying on the president's administration to sign off on the Warner Bros. Discovery deal.
In addition to protesting Ellison's dinner for Trump, the groups expressed opposition to further consolidation of the US media.
"The [Paramount-Warner Bros.] deal would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, narrowing the diversity of TV news and reducing the number of major US film studios to just four," they said. "If approved, this merger would give one family control over CBS, CNN, and TikTok—and the Ellisons have already promised President Trump that they would make sweeping changes to CNN."
Actor Mark Ruffalo announced in a Sunday social media post that he would be joining the demonstration against Ellison's Trump-honoring dinner, and he encouraged his followers to join him.
The Ellison dinner honoring Trump comes as many longtime journalists have been demanding the White House Correspondents' Association significantly change or even cancel its annual dinner that is set to feature Trump as a speaker on Saturday.
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'Epitome of Crony Capitalism': Hollywood Stars Come Out Swinging at Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger
"The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences."
Apr 13, 2026
A group of Hollywood actors, directors, and producers on Monday published an open letter demanding the proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery be blocked.
In their letter, the Hollywood heavyweights outlined the harms that would come from allowing Paramount—which is owned by David Ellison, son of billionaire Trump donor Larry Ellison—to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
"This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries—and the audiences we serve—can least afford it," the letter states. "The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major US film studios to just four."
The letter goes on to describe how consolidation in the entertainment industry has already "accelerated the disappearance of the mid-budget film, the erosion of independent distribution, the collapse of the international sales market, the elimination of meaningful profit participation, and the weakening of screen credit integrity."
Looking at the bigger picture, the letter notes that "competition is essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy," then goes on to praise California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other state AGs for filing legal actions aimed at blocking the merger amid fears that the Trump administration could rubber-stamp it.
"We are grateful for their leadership," the letter concludes, "and stand ready to support all efforts to preserve competition, protect jobs, and ensure a vibrant future for our industry, for American culture, and for our single most significant export."
Actor Mark Ruffalo, a signatory of the letter, published an article on his Substack page outlining his own reasons for opposing the merger, which he described as "the epitome of crony capitalism and the oligarchs consolidating more corporations and media power to shape the outcome of their business interests."
Ruffalo also said he's spoken with others in Hollywood who were reluctant to sign the letter over concerns about retaliation from Trump or Ellison should the attempt to block the merger fail.
"The people pushing monopolies such as this one use fear to keep the workers in line," Ruffalo said. "I have heard it time and time again from my fellows, they are afraid of retribution. Some didn’t want to sign because they are afraid. How sad is that? In America the artists are afraid to speak out against power."
Actress Jane Fonda, founder of the modern Committee for the First Amendment, said that the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. merger "would be one of the most destructive threats to free speech and creative expression in our history," because it would put "unprecedented power in the hands of a single corporation that already appears to have proven itself willing to sacrifice integrity for political favor."
The letter earned praise from democracy and antitrust advocates, who argued that blocking the merger was necessary to stopping President Donald Trump's ambitions for a right-wing takeover of US media.
“The future of free media and a strong entertainment industry in America is at stake here,” said Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. “This proposed merger would not only harm competition and creativity, it would erode the very bedrock of our democracy."
Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project, noted that "consolidation in Hollywood has been a disaster, and has led to the weak state of the industry," and said the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger needed to be blocked to prevent further damage.
"Not only does this kind of concentration hollow out creative markets," said Stoller, "it concentrates control over culture and information in the hands of a few unaccountable executives, and in this case totalitarian Gulf countries, undermining a free and pluralistic media ecosystem that democracy depends on."
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