Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery deal has been approved by the US Department of Justice.

The US Department of Justice has ended its antitrust investigation into the $11 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance Corp., stating that the deal is "unlikely" to harm consumers or competition in the film and television industry. The federal antitrust agency said in a statement on Friday that it will not require any modifications to the transaction that it has reviewed for about eight months. "The investigations all arrived at the same conclusion: the film and television industry is vibrant, and the proposed transaction is unlikely to harm competition or American consumers," the Department of Justice said in the statement. A group of state attorneys general led by California has also been investigating the deal, which would combine two of the top five movie studios in Hollywood. Reports had previously suggested that these states were preparing to file lawsuits to block the merger. The approval by the Department of Justice was expected. Paramount welcomed the decision by the Department of Justice. "This deal is pro-competitive, it will create a stronger company that will allow us to better compete against dominant tech platforms in an industry where competition for audiences, talent, technology, and investment is increasingly fierce," the company said in a statement.