Overview
- Reports on Thursday say Chinese regulators approved the $110–111 billion deal, adding to earlier clearances that include the U.S. Department of Justice and approvals from Australia, Germany, France and Saudi Arabia.
- Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted to approve the transaction in April and the DOJ formally cleared the merger on June 11, but the European Commission has not yet issued a ruling.
- Regulators in the UK and at the FCC and ongoing foreign‑subsidy and national‑security probes tied to roughly $24 billion of Gulf sovereign investment remain active review points with timetables that could require remedies or deeper scrutiny.
- The transaction’s financing structure—about $49–57 billion of committed debt, a reported $15 billion loan and equity guarantees from the Ellison family and RedBird Capital—raises leverage concerns that heighten legal and market risk for closing.
- State attorneys general are preparing a multi‑state antitrust suit and private litigation continues, so even with multiple national clearances the deal’s completion now hinges on the EU decision and the outcome of those legal challenges.