The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger was delayed further on Thursday after a federal judge extended the temporary restraining order pausing the deal by an additional two weeks, pushing the earliest date David Ellison could close the $110 billion deal to Aug. 17.
“The Court finds good cause to extend the TRO on multiple grounds, including the need to resolve two preliminary injunction motions, the parties’ disputes regarding the schedule and the proposed format of the preliminary injunction hearing, and Defendants’ stated willingness to abide by the terms of the TRO for some weeks into the future,” U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín wrote in her order on Thursday.
Since state attorneys general and the Writers’ Guild of America have both requested a preliminary injunction, Martínez-Olguín said the best course forward is to hear both parties’ arguments on the same schedule.
As a result, Paramount’s opposition brief to both the state AGs and the WGA will be due by July 27, with replies due July 30. A preliminary injunction hearing is set for Aug. 3 at 3 p.m. PT.
She also ordered lead trial counsel of all three parties to meet and reach a consensus on the briefing and hearing schedule by noon PT on Friday.
She emphasized that the TRO cannot be extended any further, but that if parties can “reach agreement and stipulate to maintain the TRO, the Defendant companies held apart, they may agree to an extended briefing and hearing schedule.”
If an agreement isn’t reached, state AGs’ response to Paramount’s request for a three-day evidentiary hearing will be due July 27. Should the request for the hearing be granted, Paramount is asking that it be scheduled during the week of Aug. 17 or 24.
Martínez-Olguín’s ruling came as Ellison stares down a self-imposed ticking fee that goes into effect if he fails to close the deal to buy WBD by Sept. 30. Starting Oct. 1, Paramount will be on the hook for a fee of 25 cents per share for every quarter the deal isn’t closed beyond that date, which translates to roughly $650 million per quarter, or approximately $7 million per day.
