WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, according to people familiar with the matter.
A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law, the people said.
The staff investigators hadn’t yet made a final recommendation — a typical step in the deal-review process — and were told Friday that the department would close the investigation, effectively clearing the deal at the federal level, some of the people said.
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