Democratic senators ask FCC to halt Paramount-Warner Bros. merger over foreign ownership
Three Democratic senators — Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Adam Schiff of California — sent a June 18 letter urging FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to prevent the proposed Paramount Skydance merger with Warner Bros. Discovery from closing until a national-security review of its foreign investment concludes. They asked the commission to give formal notice by July 1 that the transaction “may not close” while the review is pending.
At issue is the ownership structure of the $111 billion combined company, which the senators say would be 49.5% foreign-owned, with roughly 38.5% held by sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Paramount’s April 24 petition also seeks leeway for each foreign investor to raise its individual stake to as much as 20% over time — an arrangement the senators argue could eventually permit full foreign ownership. They questioned whether placing nearly half of the parent of CBS, CNN and 28 broadcast stations “into the hands of three foreign governments serves the American public.”
The dispute centres on timing. The companies have targeted a July 2026 close, but the interagency Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation may not finish its review until late September, with the option of a further 90-day assessment if it flags risks. By pressing Carr to bar the close until that work is done, the senators are trying to keep the deal from being completed ahead of the security review rather than after it — a sequencing fight that could delay one of the largest media combinations in years.