Just hours after Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Sen. Elizabeth Warren condemned the bid as a “five-alarm antitrust fire” that is “backed by a who’s who of Trump buddies.”
“A Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. merger would be a five-alarm antitrust fire and exactly what our anti-monopoly laws are written to prevent,” Warren shared in a Monday statement. “Paramount Skydance’s new hostile bid is backed by a who’s who of Trump buddies, from Jared Kushner’s private equity firm to the Ellison family to money flowing from the Middle East — raising serious questions about influence-peddling, political favoritism and national security risks.”
“The Department of Justice and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States must review any Warner Bros. deal based on the law and facts, not who sucked up the most to Donald Trump,” the statement concluded.
Warren’s comments come after Paramount set an all-cash WBD tender offer for $30 per share on Monday morning, which Warner Bros. Discovery is obligated to take directly to shareholders despite already accepting Netflix’s acquisition bid late last week.
The politician previously shared a similar sentiment about the Netflix deal, warning that a potential merger of Netflix and Warner Bros. “would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market.” “It could force you into higher prices, fewer choices over what and how you watch, and may put American workers at risk,” Warren wrote on X last week.
“Under Donald Trump, the antitrust review process has also become a cesspool of political favoritism and corruption,” she continued. “The Justice Department must enforce our nation’s anti-monopoly laws fairly and transparently — not use the Warner Bros. deal review to invite influence-peddling and bribery.”
Warren has been an outspoken critic of recent major media mergers, including the Paramount-Skydance merger, which was approved by the FCC in July.
