Paramount-WBD merger might have a very British problem

After getting the rubber stamp from the Justice Department and agreeing to modest concessions from European Union regulators, David Ellison’s debt-powered $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery may have one more hurdle overseas: UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport Lisa Nandy. Nandy, who, unrelatedly, quit X this morning because the site “favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate” and “isn’t healthy for democracy,” might put the kibosh on Ellison’s plan to have the deal squared by September. Per Deadline, Nandy met with Ellison in January, but six months later, says she “minded to intervene” on the “unprecedented” merger in a letter to Paramount. That intervention would take the form of investigations by media regulator Ofcom and antitrust watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority. The groups would have 40 days to conduct the investigation; if Nandy is dissatisfied with the findings, it would trigger a full-on investigation that could last up to five months, tragically killing Ellison’s dream of wrapping the deal by Q4.