A US federal court has ordered Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery to pause the completion of their merger for 14 days, infohub.kz reports, citing Bloomberg.
The parties had planned to close the deal this week, on July 22.
A week ago, California and 11 other states filed a lawsuit seeking to block the deal, arguing it would harm competition in film distribution and content licensing for cable TV channels.
In June, the US Department of Justice approved the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance Corp. The deal is valued at $81 billion ($110 billion including debt). The agency concluded that the combination would not harm competition or consumers.
According to the publication, Justice Department lawyers initially intended to recommend challenging the deal, believing that the merger of the two studios could limit competition and violate antitrust law. As WSJ notes, on June 12 the department ended its review, effectively approving the deal.