The Writers Guild of America has officially entered the ring in the fight to block Paramount Skydance’s pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The lawsuit, filed jointly by the WGA East and West in the Northern District of California on Tuesday, seeks to stop the merger on the grounds that it violates federal antitrust law and would cause specific harm to writers. The complaint lays out how the merger would reduce opportunities for writers as well as lead to lower pay and worse working conditions.
“With fewer competitors, the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. entity would have both the incentive and the ability to lower costs by suppressing writers’ wages and reducing output. Writers will be paid less and have fewer employment opportunities,” the WGA complaint states.
This development should come as no surprise, given that the writers guild has critical of any sale of WBD since Netflix first showed interest last year.
The WGA is represented in this lawsuit by Shinder Cantor Lerner LLP, Cuneo Gilbert Flannery & LaDuca, LLP, and Platkin LLP.
More to come…
