Paramount-Warner Bros. merger moves forward after judge approves settlement

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Paramount entered the final stages of merging with Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday afternoon, when a federal judge approved last week’s settlement of an antitrust lawsuit filed by state attorneys general.

Minutes after Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued an order accepting the settlement, Paramount CEO David Ellison announced that he is hiring Ynon Kreiz to be co-CEO of the combined company.

Kreiz has been the CEO of Mattel for the past eight years.

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The media merger will unite Warner Bros. movie studio with the Paramount studio, HBO Max with Paramount+, MTV with Discovery, and CBS News with CNN.

Paramount intends to complete its takeover of WBD next week, sources told CNN. The new name of the combined company could be announced as soon as Thursday.

Ellison, who has been pursuing the mega-merger for the past year, said in a press release he wanted to add a partner to help run the combined Paramount-WBD.

Ellison will remain chairman and CEO, while Kreiz will be co-CEO and will join the combined company’s board of directors.

“It’s a division of labor built on our complementary strengths, with clear reporting lines and it lets me focus where I can contribute most: long-term strategy, the company’s overall creative direction, talent relationships, strategic partnerships, technology and capital allocation,” Ellison said.

That means Kreiz “will focus on the company’s day-to-day management and integration of the combined businesses,” the Paramount press release added.

Ellison said the combined Paramount-WBD would be “creator-first, tech-forward and built to scale globally.”

Management shakeups are already underway. On Tuesday, Paramount’s streaming chief Cindy Holland said she was leaving the company, which signaled to Hollywood that HBO chief Casey Bloys will oversee a merged Paramount-HBO streaming platform.

Ellison’s team is expected to make further announcements about the leadership team in the coming days.

But Paramount needed the judge’s sign-off first.

The state AGs who were suing to block the deal backed down and announced a settlement on September 21, so Martínez-Olguín’s approval was the final necessary step.

The timing of the court approval was striking: It came on the last day before October 1, when a “ticking fee” is slated to go into effect, increasing the cost of WBD for Paramount.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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周三下午，派拉蒙影业与华纳兄弟探索频道的合并进入最后阶段，此前一名联邦法官批准了上周各州总检察长提起的反垄断诉讼的和解协议。

在法官 Araceli Martínez-Olguín 发布命令接受和解协议几分钟后，派拉蒙影业首席执行官大卫·埃里森宣布，他将聘请 Ynon Kreiz 担任合并后公司的联合首席执行官。

克雷兹担任美泰公司首席执行官已有八年。

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此次媒体合并将把华纳兄弟电影公司与派拉蒙影业公司、HBO Max 与 Paramount+、MTV 与 Discovery 以及 CBS 新闻与 CNN 合并在一起。

据CNN消息人士透露，派拉蒙计划下周完成对华纳兄弟影业的收购。合并后的新公司名称最早可能于本周四公布。

过去一年来一直致力于促成这笔巨额合并的埃里森在一份新闻稿中表示，他希望增加一位合作伙伴来帮助管理合并后的派拉蒙-华纳兄弟影业公司。

埃里森将继续担任董事长兼首席执行官，而克雷兹将担任联席首席执行官，并加入合并后公司的董事会。

埃里森说：“这种分工建立在我们互补优势的基础上，汇报路线清晰，让我可以专注于我最能做出贡献的领域：长期战略、公司整体创意方向、人才关系、战略合作伙伴关系、技术和资本配置。”

派拉蒙的新闻稿补充说，这意味着克雷兹“将专注于公司的日常管理和合并业务的整合”。

埃里森表示，合并后的派拉蒙-华纳兄弟公司将“以创作者为先，以技术为导向，并面向全球规模化发展”。

管理层变动已经开始。周二，派拉蒙流媒体业务负责人辛迪·霍兰德宣布离职，这向好莱坞发出信号：HBO总裁凯西·布洛伊斯将负责管理派拉蒙和HBO合并后的流媒体平台。

预计埃里森的团队将在未来几天内就领导团队做出进一步宣布。

但派拉蒙影业需要先得到法官的批准。

此前提起诉讼阻止该协议的各州检察长们让步了，并于 9 月 21 日宣布达成和解，因此马丁内斯-奥尔金的批准是最后必要的一步。

法院批准的时机非常引人注目：它是在 10 月 1 日“计时费”生效前的最后一天，届时派拉蒙的 WBD 成本将会增加。

这是一则正在更新的新闻。