PSKY Stock Inches Higher Premarket: Paramount Reportedly Offers EU Concessions To Advance $110B Warner Bros Deal

The proposal from Paramount might help it win EU approval, Bloomberg reported.

• The European Commission announced that it had received Paramount’s proposal in a filing on Wednesday.
• Lisa Nandy, UK secretary of state for culture, media and sport, reportedly wrote a letter to Warner Bros. on Tuesday and told parliament that she’s “minded to intervene” on public-interest grounds. 
• Stocktwits sentiment for PSKY has remained ‘bearish’ for two weeks.

Paramount Skydance stock rose 0.5% in premarket trading on Wednesday, after reports said it has offered commitments that might help it win the approval from European regulators for its $110-billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it had received Paramount’s proposal, but provided no details of the offer. The EU authority said it set a new deadline of July 22 to decide whether to clear the deal or open an in-depth probe.

Still, Paramount's offer is expected to secure approval from EU regulators, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Scrutiny from the EU’s antitrust regulators is among the final hurdles Paramount’s David Ellison must clear after prevailing over rival bidder Netflix through a months-long pursuit that involved multiple offers, visits to Washington, meetings with shareholders and President Donald Trump, and support from his billionaire father, Larry Ellison.

Paramount and Warner Bros. finalized their merger on Feb. 27. The deal has been cleared by the United States, China, Australia, Germany, France and Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.

UK Could Stall PSKY-WBD Deal

Approval from the UK remains in place, and the state’s watchdog is looking to interview, according to reports. Lisa Nandy, UK secretary of state for culture, media and sport, reportedly wrote a letter to Warner Bros. on Tuesday and told parliament that she’s “minded to intervene” on public-interest grounds. 

If she decides to step in, the country’s media regulator and antitrust watchdog will report to her on the deal’s impact on competition, according to reports.

PSKY Retail View, Stock Move 

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for PSKY was ‘bearish,’ unchanged for two weeks.

The PSKY stock has fallen about 27% since the company officially announced its Warner Bros. deal and is down 26% year to date, as investors remain concerned about whether the transaction will close and the substantial debt Paramount has taken on to finance the costly acquisition.

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