Paramount Skydance Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Ellison walks through Statuary Hall for the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 24, 2026.
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A group of American and European lawmakers told Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison proposed a takeover of the company warner bros discovery It will be subject to careful scrutiny by European regulators and should not consider shareholder approval of the deal the final word.
Three European Parliament members and two Democratic US House lawmakers issued their warning in a letter sent Thursday and shared exclusively with CNBC.
“In the EU, the European Commission and the European Parliament will closely examine the market definition, market share limits, customer substitution potential, vertical integration effects and downstream effects in the internal market in accordance with the EU Merger Regulation.”
The lawmakers said that despite the merger being approved by an initial WBD shareholder vote last month, it is still subject to scrutiny by their respective governments. And, he warned that the merger could create new barriers to competition.
“We express particular concern about public statements that suggest this transaction will face minimal regulatory scrutiny or possibly receive expedited approval. Such characterizations appear premature,” U.S. Representatives Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., and Deborah Ross, D-N.C., wrote along with European Parliament members Nathalie Loiseau, Brando Benfi and Andreas Schwab.
Paramount did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The warning comes a little more than a week after Paramount’s earnings report, in which Ellison said in a letter Told shareholders that “significant progress” is being made toward completing the acquisition by the end of the third quarter.
“From a strategic perspective, we couldn’t be more excited about the transaction. We are on track to close it by September this year,” Ellison said during the company’s earnings call.
The combination will bring together the powerhouse film studios at Paramount and Warner Bros., as well as two popular streaming services, a deep library of franchise content and a portfolio of TV networks that includes CBS, TNT and CNN.
“This transaction, if it does not fully comply with the proper authorization process and respect all applicable laws, could substantially reduce competition in interconnected markets, including film and television production, content licensing, theatrical distribution, and streaming services,” the lawmakers wrote. “This could reduce consumer choice and drive up prices.”
MPs also raised concerns about editorial independence. Shortly after Ellison’s Skydance acquired Paramount last year, the combined company purchased the online publication, “The Free Press,” and named its co-founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News.
The long-awaited federal approval for the merger of Paramount and Skydance came shortly after Paramount paid President Donald Trump $16 million over a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. As part of the lawsuit, Paramount agreed to appoint an ombudsman for CBS News.
“(W)e warn about the impact of this merger on media pluralism, and we call for internal safeguards to guarantee that editorial decisions remain independent of the interests of corporate shareholders, particularly third-country investors,” the lawmakers wrote to Ellison.
Paramount has agreed to buy WBD for $31 per share and has offered a $7 billion breakup fee if the proposed merger does not receive regulatory approval.
funding the deal This includes about $24 billion from the Gulf countries’ sovereign wealth funds – in addition to a credit facility and support from Ellison’s father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Paramount previously said those Gulf state entities had agreed to give up any voting rights in the new company, and the deal is not expected to trigger a mandatory review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, according to a person familiar with the matter.
If there is any issue with the foreign investment that would affect the approval of the overall deal, the Ellison family has put the deal back Will be prepared to take further steps, the person said.
Paramount in late April filed a petition To the Federal Communications Commission for indirect foreign funding because it owns the American broadcast station CBS.
Still, the investment is raising alarm bells.
“Such financing structures raise serious questions regarding national security, editorial independence, foreign state influence, and the possibility of review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), particularly given the aggregation of sensitive user data and significant media properties under a single corporate owner,” the lawmakers said in their letter to Ellison. “In the EU, the presence of foreign sovereign wealth funds may also raise questions regarding the application of the foreign subsidy regulation.”
He vowed that the merger would go through a rigorous review process, despite recent comments from some regulators, including Brendan Carr, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, who has said he expects the deal to be approved “very quickly.” It’s worth noting that the FCC won’t be the only one to approve this deal.
“Public trust requires a rigorous and transparent review process. Please consider this letter as formal notice that the claim that the transaction effectively circumvented regulatory hurdles is incorrect,” the lawmakers wrote.