The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Tuesday that it will conduct a formal investigation into Paramount Global's pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a transaction valued at roughly $110 billion. The first phase of the probe begins on June 10 and is expected to run for up to two months as the watchdog assesses the merger's impact on competition.
The CMA has set an August 7 deadline to decide whether to advance the case to a second, more detailed phase. If a deeper inquiry is launched, it could push the deal’s anticipated closing—currently slated for the third quarter of 2026—into significant uncertainty.
Paramount secured the deal after beating Netflix in a winter bidding war for WBD. Meanwhile, several U.S. states, including California and New York, are preparing lawsuits to block the merger, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta has pledged to investigate the transaction as well.
