WSJ What’s News - Paramount Clears Major Legal Hurdle for Warner Megadeal

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

P.M. Edition for Sept. 21. Paramount has settled an antitrust lawsuit filed by state attorneys general, effectively clearing the final major hurdle for its $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. WSJ Los Angeles bureau chief Ryan Faughnder discusses what’s in the settlement and when we might see the deal close. Plus, CNN, MS Now and Politico are suing the Trump administration after they were banned from the White House. We hear from Journal reporter Isabella Simonetti about why the situation is escalating. And OpenAI calls on the government to set a global standard for AI safety. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Three media organizations are suing the Trump administration after they were banned from the White House. Plus, Paramount settles a lawsuit, clearing the way for its $81 billion merger with Warner Brothers Discovery. This is pretty significant. I mean, it's basically the last remaining major hurdle to getting the deal closed. And OpenAI asked the government to create global safety standards for artificial intelligence. It's Monday, September 21st. Alex O'SLaf for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, top headlines and business stories that move the world today. President Trump has banned CNN, MS now, and Politico from the White House.

Now, those and other media organizations are pushing back. WSJ reporter Isabella Siminetti is here to tell us more. Isabella, on Friday, Trump announced this ban. What has that actually meant in practice so far? On Saturday, CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein said on air she tried to enter the White House but was told her badge had been deactivated. Jonathan Greenberger, who is Politico's editor-in-chief, told staff that members of the Secret Service confiscated its White House reporters pass. And MS Now White House reporter Akala Gardner said in a segment that her badge didn't work. And she said a photographer had their badges taken away from them.

Trump on Monday denied that the White House was assaulting the free press as he's been accused of by some of these media outlets. And instead, he said that the White House is going after what he describes as fake news and called it a threat to our national security. CNN was the primary pool network to cover Trump's visit to New York today. And they were removed from that event. I was going to ask you about that because it sounds like all these other media organizations are saying, well, We're not going to cover everything from the Trump administration now either. What is the intention behind that sort of banding together? The White House press pool is a rotation of reporters, videographers, photographers, and technicians

who cover the president when he travels or when he conducts events and spaces that are too small for the entire press corps. So Monday's decision for now suspends the television press pool, which distributes video footage and reporting about the president to TV networks and other broadcasts. outlets. And the outlets participating in the suspension said in a joint statement that the public has a vital interest in receiving accurate independent information about its government and that no administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting. But CNN, MS Now and Politico aren't taking this ban sitting down. They said today that they're suing the Trump administration. What is the foundation for their case and what is the likelihood that

they'll prevail. It's hard for me to say exactly how likely it is that they are to win, but news organizations say they're suing to protect their First Amendment rights and to defend their ability to cover the president. And the ultimate goal is to be able to regain access to the White House and these important events. Have we seen suits like this before? Yeah, there have been several disputes between the Trump administration and media outlets in the past. there was a dispute between the Trump administration and the Associated Press, as well as the Pentagon and the New York Times. In 2009, the major networks pushed back after the Obama administration tried to ban Fox News from participating in a Treasury Department event and ultimately the administration backed off. So this isn't completely new, but this seems to have escalated to a new level, especially with the latest development today,

TV networks are pausing some coverage of the president. That was WSJ reporter, Isabella Semenetti. Thank you, Isabella. Thank you. In other media news, Paramount has reached a settlement with a group of state attorneys general, effectively clearing the way for its $81 billion merger with Warner Brothers discovery. WSJ Los Angeles Bureau Chief Ryan Fonder says the attorneys general's intent behind the settlement

was to protect jobs that they were concerned would disappear as part of the merger. Paramount has promised to up its production spend in the United States by about $300 million a year. That over the course of five years equates to $1.5 billion in additional domestic production spending. That's something that's important to the California constituency because over the last few years, a lot of the production has moved out of California, which is Hollywood's hometown, of course. Paramount has committed to releasing 30 movies a year, at least, from the combination of itself and Warner Brothers. And that commitment is backed up by financial penalties that it would incur if it fell short of that. One last thing that they agreed to was that Paramount will not be able to negotiate cable distribution for Warner and Paramount basic television channels together.

They'll have to do that separately. Ryan says Paramount CEO David Ellison is hopeful that the deal can close in the next two weeks. That would take them a few days beyond October 1st, the date from which Paramount will have to start paying ticking fees of $7 million a day to warner shareholders every day the deal doesn't close. It's possible they'll have to if they go over that line. But this is a timeline where the judge in the case had set a court date of starting a trial in March. If you're talking about $7 million a day for a few days going over the October 1st deadline.

Imagine how many more millions and billions of dollars that would have been by March. And that's assuming they were able to get the deal closed, of course. Coming up, why the pharma company behind OZepic saw its stock price fall almost 8% today. That story and more after the break. The weight loss. drug wars are heating up. One of its major players, Novo Nordisk, is promising a slew of new drugs to boost sales. But investors aren't convinced that the company is close to finding its next Ozempic. Alex Janin covers the pharmaceutical industry for the journal and is here now with more.

Alex today was Novo's Investor Day in London. What kinds of new products did the company announce? They highlighted what they called multi-blockbusters, which they want to have on the market by 2030. There are some obvious candidates in that list, including some drugs that investors are closely watching in the obesity and diabetes pipeline. Of course, that's what the company has really made its name on. One of those drugs is called Kagrisema. There are investors and analysts I've been speaking with who think that it's likely to outperform expectations, but those expectations are pretty low because Novo has lost so much market share to Eli Lilly in the obesity. space. Still, investors are feeling pretty good about Kagrisimid, though company put out some

data this morning showing that it looked promising against one of Eli Lilly's drugs, but still some mixed results there. Outside of obesity and diabetes, they're highlighting expansion into blood and endocrine disorders, cardiovascular disease, liver disease and related conditions, new development for sickle cell disease, which the company's excited about. But investors were not really convinced. So despite these announcements, Novo's stock fell 7.7% today. What were investors hoping to see? They wanted to see a strong strategy laid out around the loss of exclusivity that we will see with OZembek and Weigovie in the U.S. starting 2031, 2032. And Novo's guidance today only went up until 2030.

So they're saying we don't really know what to expect about the company's strategy. how is it really going to mitigate this extreme loss of sales that we're going to see when those drugs come off patent in major markets in the U.S. and Europe in the early 2030s? As I mentioned, the company is talking up Kagresema. It looks good, but it might not be the next OZempic, right, which is really what the market wants, especially when you've got these competing drugs from Eli Lilly that have thus far delivered superior weight loss. The weight loss pills, that is an important part of Novo's story right now. They had the first mover advantage there, but they had the first mover advantage with the injectables, too, and that was not enough to sustain them. So right now, Novo has more of the market share for the orals, certainly with the Medicare Bridge program, which has expanded into sort of a whole new patient population. But as analysts have pointed out to me, one pill or one drug does not a success story make. they're going to need to deliver more than just that. That was WSJ reporter, Alex Janin. Thank you, Alex. Thank you.

Novo may have had a tough day, but U.S. stocks rallied to start the week. The NASDAQ led the gains rising 2.3% to its first record close since June. The gains flowed from big moves in chipmakers and other AI-related stocks. The S&P 500 added 1.5% while the Dow was up. point seven percent. Falling oil prices also added to the upbeat tone. Brent crude futures dropped 3.4 percent near $100 a barrel, a fourth straight day of losses. That helps send global bond yields lower. The 10-year treasury yield traded down below 5 percent. OpenAI is asking the U.S. government to develop global safety and security standards for AI.

In a proposal published today, the company suggests that countries worldwide should set common measures evaluating self-improving AI systems and establish secure channels to share emerging threats. President Trump has so far resisted calls to regulate the industry. Today, he added on social media that he's, quote, not going to stifle growth, but that the Justice Department and other law enforcement bodies can take action if needed. Open AI's call comes as President Trump prepares to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington this week, and as global leaders convene in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. Well, the visit of leaders from around the world to New York City has run into a technical hiccup.

An equipment outage in the Northeast led to significant delays and flight diversions today. According to Federal Aviation Administration Chief Brian Bedford, a contractor accidentally cut 600 feet of fiber communications line in New Jersey, leading to a loss of radar and radios. Airports in Newark and Philadelphia were the hardest hit, with other disruptions at other New York City airports and Boston. Bedford said in a press conference that they'll reopen the airspace once it's safe to do so. And that's what's news for this Monday afternoon.

Today's show is produced by Danny Lewis with supervising producer Melanie Roy. I'm Alex Osloff for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.