Daily MIC: UK Opens Probe into Paramount-WBD Deal; Paramount Pushes Back on Teamsters' Challenge; OpenAI Files to Go Public; Perplexity CEO Indicates Plans for IPO in 2028

Research evidence excerpt

Daily MIC: UK Opens Probe into Paramount-WBD Deal; Paramount Pushes Back on Teamsters' Challenge; OpenAI Files to Go Public; Perplexity CEO Indicates Plans for IPO in 2028

o Paramount Skydance Corp.’s $110

billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. The Competition and Markets Authority set

an initial deadline of Aug. 7 to rule on the deal to unite two Hollywood studios behind films

from Casablanca and Harry Potter to Mission: Impossible; two major news networks in CNN

and CBS; the streaming powerhouse HBO and dozens of cable networks.

PSKY, WBD, NFLX: Paramount blasts Netflix, pushes back on Teamsters’ warnings

about Warner Bros. deal (Politico) - Paramount Skydance accused Netflix of launching a

“scorched-earth campaign” against its prospective purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery in

a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice — delivering one of its sharpest rebukes yet of its

once-rival bidder for the company while pushing back against labor concerns about the deal.

In the letter obtained by POLITICO, Paramount’s chief legal officer claimed that Netflix has

attempted to “poison regulators and other stakeholders against” the deal — and alleged the

company’s “panic-level response” demonstrated “just how seriously Netflix takes Paramount

as a scaled competitor.” The claim was aired in a June 5 letter responding to a March

report filed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters with the Justice Department’s

Antitrust Division. The union, which includes 15,000 rank-and-file Motion Picture Teamsters

— members who serve as drivers, location personnel and in other behind-the-scenes roles

— argued Paramount’s purchase of its rival “poses a direct threat to film and television

workers nationwide.” The Teamsters have urged the Justice Department to sue to block the