Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield is pursuing a court order to pause the closing of the Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger, citing the company’s failure to fully comply with requests for key documents in the state’s lobbying investigation. The requested delay aims to ensure transparency before finalizing the $110 billion transaction.
According to Rayfield’s office, Paramount has been evasive and slow in responding to a June records request seeking information on its lobbying efforts with federal agencies, involvement in a Justice Department statement endorsing the merger, and details regarding an internal initiative called “Project Warrior.” The company reportedly raised objections on the day it was supposed to submit the records, prompting the Attorney General to seek judicial enforcement and a 60-day postponement of the deal’s closure after compliance.
Paramount representatives have denied that the withheld information is relevant to Oregon’s antitrust review or legitimate grounds for delay, asserting they have already provided the necessary merger-related documents. They also noted an intention not to close the transaction before mid-July but have not formally agreed to extend the hold while the state’s inquiry continues.
The Oregon Department of Justice (ODOJ) clarified that its investigation into the merger began shortly after the deal was announced earlier this year and that it will formally present the motion at Multnomah County Court. This move comes weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division cleared the merger, finding it unlikely to harm competition or consumers based on an extensive eight-month examination.