By Edith Hancock

Paramount Skydance's $81 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery is being investigated by the European Union under the bloc's rules governing subsidies from non-EU governments.

The European Commission--the bloc's executive arm--set an initial July 14 deadline to wrap up a foreign subsidies probe into the merger, according to an update on the commission's website dated Tuesday. The commission confirmed the review on Wednesday.

Officials are also separately screening the transaction under the EU's merger rules, with a July 7 deadline to end that investigation.

Three sovereign wealth funds--Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's L'imad Holding Co.-agreed to provide nearly $24 billion in funding for Paramount, The Wall Street Journal reported in April. Paramount announced its deal to buy Warner Discovery, home to HBO and CNN, in February. The transaction is valued at $110 billion including debt.

A Paramount spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that it does not comment on regulatory proceedings. "We have been engaged with all regulatory and law enforcement bodies in a constructive and transparent manner and will continue to do so," the company said.

Paramount's acquisition is the latest deal to get scrutinized under the EU's Foreign Subsidies Regulation, a relatively new piece of legislation aimed at tackling what officials see as outsized and potentially unfair backing from non-EU governments. Companies typically notify their transactions to the commission under that law if their combined EU turnover or financial contributions from foreign governments meet certain thresholds.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 10, 2026 08:11 ET (12:11 GMT)

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