Even With WarnerDiscovery Board’s Newest Ellison Rejection, Trump Admin’s DOJ Doing Dueling In-Depth Regulatory Reviews For Both Skydance’s & Netflix’s Pursuits. Policies Require Companies With Cash Tender Offers Go Through Approval Process Unless One Exits So Information Requests Must Be Complied.

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“The heated battle to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. has expanded from the boardroom to the US Justice Department, with the disclosure Wednesday that the agency is conducting an in-depth review of Paramount Skydance Corp.’s hostile tender offer for the company behind HBO and the Harry Potter and Batman franchises.

Warner Bros. said in a regulatory filing that the Justice Department opened up the review on December 23. Netflix Inc., which signed an $82.7 billion deal with Warner Bros. last month, also said Wednesday that it’s engaging with antitrust authorities, including the DOJ and the European Commission.

Warner Bros. on Wednesday again rejected Paramount’s bid as insufficient, opting to stick with Netflix’ offer.

The rejection, however, doesn’t let Warner Bros. escape dueling antitrust reviews, meaning it will have to respond to DOJ information requests on both deals until one company backs out. US antitrust law requires companies making cash tender offers to go through the regulatory approval process, even if the seller is an unwilling party.

Warner Bros. declined to comment. Spokespeople for the DOJ, Paramount and Netflix didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Paramount has maintained that its bid offers Warner Bros. a more certain path to US government approval than a tie-up with Netflix, which it says would make the world’s biggest streaming company even bigger.

The extended DOJ review now calls that claim into question. A Paramount deal would bring under one roof two of the big five movie studios, two large streaming services and the competing news divisions of CNN and CBS.

As part of the reviews of both deals, the Justice Department lawyers will examine documents and interview industry participants to determine whether the mergers will harm competition.

The Netflix deal has faced wide-ranging criticism from Hollywood and Washington. In a House Judiciary Committee hearing earlier Wednesday, lawmakers from both parties criticized the Netflix deal, which would give the company more than 30% of all streaming for paid content, a key threshold for antitrust investigators when scrutinizing a merger.”

Hot take: *Good.* MAGA ***should*** antitrust the hell out of Netflix-Warner, and I hope the Democrats join them in said pursuit. We’re all rooting for it to “save CNN,” and that’s important. But so is the threat of Warner films being yanked from theaters after two weeks, *if they show up at all.* As is the threat of the number one streamer eating number three. (We’ll count Disney+ and Hulu apart here, at least for now.)

Netflix has *said* they care about these things. ***They have yet to put it in writing.*** And forgive if the must-be-exclusive, I-hate-theaters Ted Sarandos isn’t winning me over with his “new leaf” all that much. Nor should you be.

And on the other side? One major eats another, one company controls about half of whatever bit of cable is left, CNN somehow becomes even *worse* by devolving into pure MAGA slop, and the whole thing is a debt bomb waiting to blow.

This is the most consequential media acquisition in modern history, even more so than Disney buying 21st Century Fox. Of *course* it should be scrutinized to hell and back. The fate of Warner Bros. itself, Hollywood’s crown jewel among crown jewels, is on the line here.