Paramount Skydance Clears Final Antitrust Hurdle: Court Enters States Consent Decree, WBD Merger Cleared to Close
PSKY sits 35% above its 52-week low of $7.62 on elevated volume (1.9× avg).
Summary
The court entered the States Consent Decree on September 30, 2026, resolving the multi-state antitrust lawsuit and modifying the no-close order to permit the $110B Warner Bros. Discovery merger to close. The WGA lawsuit was also settled.
Key Events · Legal and Risk Events · PSKY
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Court Enters States Consent Decree
On September 30, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered the States Consent Decree, resolving the Clayton Act Section 7 lawsuit filed by 12 Plaintiff States and modifying the no-close order to permit the WBD Merger to close.
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Five-Year Operating Commitments Imposed
The Combined Entity must release 30-32 films annually (including 20-21 wide releases and 4 independent films), spend $300M more annually on U.S. production ($1.5B total over five years), invest $9.5M annually in workforce training, contribute $5M annually to an Independent Film Fund, and maintain Pluto TV as a free ad-supported service.
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WGA Lawsuit Settled
The WGA Settlement Agreement resolves the writers' guild antitrust lawsuit with a $17.5M one-time contribution to the Writers' Guild-Industry Health Fund and up to $6.0M in attorneys' fees, plus a commitment to maintain WGA-represented staff headcount at CBS News Broadcast.
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Financial Impact Assessed
The company states the States Consent Decree and WGA Settlement Agreement will not materially impact its ability to achieve previously announced synergy and leverage targets, despite the $1.5B incremental production commitment and up to $40M in Plaintiff States' fee reimbursement.
Analysis · PSKY · Technology
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered the States Consent Decree on September 30, 2026, resolving the multi-state antitrust lawsuit that had blocked the $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. This removes the last major legal obstacle to closing the merger. The decree imposes substantial five-year operating commitments on the combined entity — including minimum film release counts, $1.5 billion in incremental U.S. production spend, and a News Editorial Independence Board — but the company states these will not materially impact its synergy and leverage targets. The WGA Settlement Agreement separately resolves the writers' guild lawsuit with a $17.5 million health fund contribution and up to $6 million in legal fees. For a deal that has faced a temporary restraining order, a multi-state halt, and an antitrust trial scheduled for March 2027, this court order is the pivotal event that converts the merger from 'blocked' to 'cleared to close.'
How filings like this one have moved
In the 30 days to Sep 30, 2026, 41.9% of the 322 measured filings Wiseek scored 9 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was -0.38%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
Measured one observation per ticker per day, after exclusions. Current figures: Filing Impact Tracker · open dataset
At the time of this filing, PSKY was trading at $10.30 on NASDAQ in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $11.6B. The 52-week trading range was $7.62 to $20.09. This filing was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 9 out of 10.