At $81 billion, the proposed union of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery would rank among the largest media transactions in history — and for most of this year, twelve American states were determined to stop it. California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, announced on Monday that those states had reached a settlement with Paramount, removing the final legal obstacle to a merger that the US Department of Justice had already approved in June. Four holdouts — Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Minnesota — only agreed to terms over the weekend, according to Bloomberg, suggesting the negotiations were considerably harder than either side had publicly acknowledged. The antitrust concern at the heart of the litigation was structural rather than speculative.

Before any merger discussions began, Hollywood was already down to five legacy studios; combining two of them, the states argued, would "extinguish competition" and reduce the volume of films reaching both cinemas and streaming platforms. To settle those fears without litigation, Paramount accepted a set of measurable obligations: a minimum of $300 million in domestic production spending, a requirement to distribute at least 30 films annually for the first two years and 32 in each of the three years that follow, and financial penalties should those thresholds go unmet. The company also agreed to preserve independent editorial boards at both CBS and CNN — a provision that reflects anxieties extending well beyond box-office economics. In return, Paramount avoids the most disruptive remedy that had been discussed: a forced sale of its cable portfolio, which includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime.

David Ellison, son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison and the incoming chief executive of the merged entity, described the outcome as "pro-competitive, pro-consumer and pro-worker." Bonta, however, was careful to frame the settlement as enforcement rather than endorsement, warning that a court-appointed trustee would monitor compliance and that legal action remained available if Paramount fell short.