PSKY, WBD Deal: Paramount Skydance Reportedly Makes Regulatory Concessions To Save Warner Bros. Acquisition

• Paramount Skydance has privately engaged California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, Bloomberg reports.
• The company has submitted potential concessions aimed at easing state-level antitrust concerns.
• Regulators in California and other states are reviewing the proposed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.

Paramount Skydance Corp. (PSKY) has submitted suggested terms aimed at resolving an antitrust investigation by California and other states into its $110-billion plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD).

Shares of both PSKY and WBD were trading in the green during Monday afternoon’s session. While PSKY had gained around 1.7%, WBD was up 1.1% at the time of writing. WBD shares were still trading at around 15% discount to PSKY’s $31-per-share offer.

PSKY Says It’s Engaging With Regulators

Paramount Skydance has privately communicated with the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, indicating it is willing to address state concerns and has put forward a list of concessions as part of ongoing discussions, reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

In a statement, Paramount said it continues to engage with regulators while maintaining that the deal does not raise antitrust concerns.

“We continue to engage constructively with regulators, including state attorneys general, and are always prepared to address legitimate, clearly articulated antitrust concerns,” the company said, according to Bloomberg. 

States Weigh Legal Action Amid Competition Concerns

California is leading the broader investigation into the proposed merger and is preparing a lawsuit along with other states that could seek to block the transaction. Officials are examining how the combination could impact bargaining power over movie and television producers, while concerns have also been raised about potential effects on prices, wages, jobs, and content quality. 

Scale Of The Proposed Media Combination

The transaction would bring together two of the largest Hollywood studios, along with major television and streaming assets including CNN, CBS, HBO Max, and Paramount+.

Paramount has argued the combined company would be better positioned to compete with major streaming and tech rivals such as Netflix (NFLX), Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) Prime Video, and Alphabet’s (GOOG) YouTube.

PSKY, WBD Stocks: What Retail Thinks

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around PSKY stock was ‘bearish’ at the time of writing, while message volume was high.’ In the past seven days, the message volume rose more than 95%.

For WBD stock, retail sentiment stood at ‘bullish,’ with message volume ‘high. Message volume surged more than 360% over the past seven days and jumped over 600% in the last 30 days.

In the past 12 months, PSKY stock has fallen nearly 13%, while WBD shares have surged almost 150% during the same period. 

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