Read the memo that Paramount CEO David Ellison sent to staffers after 2 settlements cleared the way for his WBD deal

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison just confirmed to employees that the company had settled the lawsuits that were holding up its deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.

"We have complete clearance for this merger and can move toward closing," Ellison said in a Monday memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.

Ellison said that Paramount is "tentatively planning" to complete its $110 billion acquisition of WBD in "approximately two weeks."

After completing this deal, Paramount will be a Hollywood behemoth that owns Paramount Pictures, the Warner Bros. studio, CBS, HBO, HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, and TV networks like CNN, TNT, TruTV, and MTV.

Paramount's WBD deal was put on pause in July after lawsuits brought by 12 states and the Writers Guild of America, which argued that the merger would reduce competition and harm consumers.

On Monday, the plaintiffs announced that they had settled the lawsuits. Paramount agreed to boost US production spending, adhere to a minimum theatrical film release requirement, not sell its movie lot or the Warner Bros. lot, and make a few other concessions.

Paramount was in a hurry to close its deal since it had agreed to pay WBD shareholders a so-called "ticking fee" of $650 million per quarter — roughly $7 million per day — starting on October 1 if the deal didn't close. The judge overseeing the case had scheduled the trial date for March, which meant that Paramount would have owed about $1.3 billion in fees if it hadn't settled the lawsuits.

The uncertainty surrounding the deal had some Paramount staffers wondering about their jobs, employees previously told Business Insider.

"I know it's created real uncertainty, and for some of you, real anxiety — that's not lost on me," Ellison said in his memo to employees.

Add BI in Google so our reporting is easier to find when you’re searching for what matters.

One Disney employee calls Claude 51,000 times a day. Internal docs reveal how the Mouse House is using AI.

Internal Paramount presentation reveals its 2026 streaming goals — and how much viewership has grown