The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has given the green light to Paramount Skydance’s roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, concluding that the mega-deal doesn’t raise competition concerns in Britain.
What’s actually happening
Paramount Skydance, led by CEO David Ellison, announced its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery at approximately $31 per WBD share in cash back in February 2026. The deal beat out competing interest from Netflix.
The CMA completed its Phase 2 review by June 9, 2026, before formally clearing the transaction on June 30. The US Department of Justice gave its own clearance on June 12, and the European Commission followed suit on July 22. Shareholders had already approved the acquisition back on April 23.
A US federal court temporarily paused the deal amid ongoing litigation, with proceedings expected to continue until August 17, 2026.
The combined entity is projected to generate roughly $70 billion in annual revenue, with EBITDA of $16 billion and approximately 207 million streaming subscribers.
Why crypto investors should pay attention
The streaming wars are fundamentally a fight over digital distribution infrastructure. The combined Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. entity will control one of the largest content libraries in the world and serve it through digital platforms to 207 million subscribers. That infrastructure sits adjacent to the same technological stack that Web3 companies are trying to disrupt: content ownership, creator royalties, digital rights management, and decentralized distribution.
The CMA, which has historically been one of the more interventionist antitrust bodies globally, found no competition concerns here. The relative ease with which this deal cleared regulatory review across three major jurisdictions is notable given the scale of the transaction.