Judge pauses Paramount’s attempt to buy Warner Bros. Discovery

法官叫停派拉蒙收购华纳兄弟探索公司的计划

A judge partially granted the request from a dozen state attorneys general to temporarily place the $110 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery on hold, as reported by Variety and Reuters. US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín said that based on the new company’s market share, “the Court is persuaded that it can presume the proposed merger is likely to violate antitrust laws,” and that the states showed “irreparable harm” could occur without a temporary restraining order.

据《综艺》(Variety) 和路透社报道，一位法官部分批准了十二位州总检察长的请求，暂时搁置了派拉蒙 (Paramount) 与华纳兄弟探索公司 (Warner Bros. Discovery) 之间价值 1100 亿美元的合并案。美国地方法官阿拉塞利·马丁内斯-奥尔金 (Araceli Martínez-Olguín) 表示，基于新公司的市场份额，“法院认为可以推定拟议的合并很可能违反反垄断法”，且各州已证明若不发布临时限制令，可能会造成“不可挽回的损害”。

A week ago, California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington sued to block the deal for 28 days, saying the newly created “media behemoth” would harm competition, and that if the deal is allowed to close, then the companies could start hard-to-undo actions like layoffs and information sharing.

一周前，加利福尼亚州、亚利桑那州、科罗拉多州、康涅狄格州、马萨诸塞州、明尼苏达州、内华达州、新泽西州、新墨西哥州、纽约州、俄勒冈州和华盛顿州提起诉讼，要求阻止该交易 28 天。他们认为，这个新成立的“媒体巨头”将损害市场竞争，如果允许交易完成，两家公司可能会开始裁员和共享信息等难以撤销的行动。

The judge put in place a 14-day restraining order and set a hearing for the preliminary injunction on August 3rd. If the deal hasn’t closed by September 30th, Paramount will owe Warner Bros. investors millions of dollars based on how long it takes, as laid out in the agreement it used to beat Netflix’s $83 billion offer.

法官下达了为期 14 天的限制令，并将初步禁令的听证会定于 8 月 3 日举行。如果交易在 9 月 30 日之前未能完成，派拉蒙将根据延误时长向华纳兄弟的投资者支付数百万美元的赔偿金，这正是派拉蒙此前为击败 Netflix 830 亿美元报价而签署的协议中所规定的条款。

California AG Rob Bonta said over the weekend that the ticking fee starting in October “is a choice that Paramount made. They agreed to it as a party with Warner Bros. They might regret it, but they absolutely knew that this proposed merger was going to have to go through a regulatory process, and that that would take time,” while also dismissing threats about Paramount moving out of California, and saying that a CNN spinoff plan wouldn’t resolve the states’ lawsuit. After the judge’s decision was released on Monday, Bonta released a statement saying, “This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day.”

加州总检察长罗伯·邦塔 (Rob Bonta) 在周末表示，10 月份开始生效的“滴答作响”的费用（延期罚金）“是派拉蒙自己的选择。他们作为与华纳兄弟达成协议的一方同意了这一点。他们现在可能会后悔，但他们完全清楚这项拟议的合并必须经过监管程序，而这需要时间。”他同时驳回了关于派拉蒙将迁出加州的威胁，并表示剥离 CNN 的计划无法解决各州的诉讼。在法官周一做出裁决后，邦塔发表声明称：“这是我们确保这项巨型合并案永不见天日的诉讼中的关键首胜。”