Paramount Skydance has offered to exit United International Pictures, its long-running film distribution joint venture with Universal Pictures, to satisfy European Commission antitrust concerns over its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The concession, made public on June 30, prompted the European Commission to extend its decision window from July 7 to July 22, 2026. Founded in 1981 and headquartered in London, UIP handles Paramount theatrical releases across several European territories including Denmark, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. European cinema operators had raised antitrust objections to the combined scale of the merged entity.
The deal, led by Paramount CEO David Ellison and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, cleared U.S. Department of Justice review earlier this year. A separate $24 billion investment from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar is also under review by the European Commission foreign subsidies arm, with a provisional deadline of July 14.
In the United Kingdom, the Competition and Markets Authority launched its Phase 1 inquiry on June 9, with an August 7 deadline to decide whether to escalate the review. UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is separately weighing an intervention on media plurality grounds, given the combined entity's ownership of Channel 5, TNT Sports, Paramount+, and HBO Max. Should the deal collapse due to regulatory failure, Paramount faces a $7 billion termination fee.