



Will California try to block Hollywood’s next megadeal?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. CONSIDER IT a cautionary tale. In 2022 Kroger announced that it would buy Albertsons, a rival grocer, for nearly $25bn.
Then things went off the rails. The attorneys-general (AGs) for Washington and Colorado challenged the merger in their respective state courts, on the grounds that the impact on prices and labour would harm their constituents. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brought its own suit in federal court soon after, and the avalanche of litigation torpedoed the deal.
States may have been aligned with the FTC against the merger, but they didn’t wait for the feds to act before jumping into the fray. “It’s clear we are willing and able to litigate cases on our own," says Phil Weiser, Colorado’s attorney-general. Hollywood ought to pay attention.
The industry’s latest merger risks becoming a sequel. Netflix and Paramount are in a heated competition to buy Warner Bros Discovery, one of Hollywood’s crown jewels. David Ellison, the nepo-baby boss of Paramount, wants to purchase the studio so badly he is mounting a $108bn hostile takeover bid.
On December 17th the board of Warner Bros urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s offer, though Mr Ellison looks unlikely to back down so easily. Paramount hopes to convince Warner Bros shareholders that if Netflix prevails, the resulting mega-movie-and-streaming company would spook federal antitrust enforcers, whereas a Paramount-Warner combination could pass antitrust muster. Both bidders are focused on getting Donald Trump, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FTC on side.
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