A federal judge in California put Paramount Skydance's $110 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery on hold Monday, granting a 14-day temporary restraining order while she weighs a broader antitrust challenge from a coalition of state attorneys general. Rhode Island is not among them.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín wrote that the states presented "compelling evidence" the combined company would hold substantial market share in wide-release theatrical film distribution, enough for the court to "presume the proposed merger is likely to violate antitrust laws." The order pauses the deal, at least for now; it does not kill it. A hearing on whether to extend that pause into a longer-lasting preliminary injunction is set for August 3.
Twelve states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington — sued on July 13 to stop the acquisition, arguing it would let one company control roughly 27 percent of wide-release theatrical distribution and a similar share of basic cable channel licensing, raising prices and shrinking choice for consumers. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement announcing his state's participation that "prices will go up for Connecticut families," predicting Connecticut households would pay more for streaming, cable and movie tickets while losing access to quality news and reporting.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha did not join the coalition, and his office has declined to say why, according to reporting first published by GoLocalProv. No public explanation for the state's absence has surfaced since the lawsuit was filed.
Paramount disputes the states' case entirely. In a statement responding to the ruling, the company said the attorneys general's antitrust arguments "are without merit as their alleged markets and claims of anticompetitive effects are without any basis in modern market realities," calling the challenge "one of the weakest merger challenges in modern antitrust history." The company has said the merger would increase the output of theatrical releases, stabilize basic cable television and expand rather than shrink opportunities for writers.
The Writers Guild of America filed its own lawsuit on July 16 arguing the opposite. According to the WGA's complaint, Paramount and Warner Bros. together accounted for 35 percent of film writing jobs between 2021 and 2024, 36 percent of television writing projects between 2022 and 2025, and 38 percent of overall writing deals in that period — concentration the union argues would let a merged company suppress writers' pay with less risk of getting caught.
The deal's financing traces back to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Trump ally who agreed to backstop $40.4 billion in capital for the acquisition led by his son, Paramount Skydance chief executive David Ellison. Larry Ellison has spent the past decade building property holdings in Newport, according to GoLocalProv, giving the transaction a loose but notable Rhode Island tie beyond the courtroom.
The Justice Department cleared the deal in June, finding it "not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers," a conclusion the twelve suing states directly reject. Paramount has said it intends to close the acquisition by September 30; after that date a contractual "ticking fee" begins adding 25 cents per Warner Bros. Discovery share each quarter until the deal is completed, adding pressure to resolve the litigation quickly.
For now, the merger remains frozen. The next decision point is August 3, when Martínez-Olguín will consider whether to extend the restraining order into a preliminary injunction that could keep the deal on ice for months.