Judge halts Paramount's Warner Bros acquisition

A coalition of states led by California won a pause of Paramount's PSKY.O $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery WBD.O on Monday, after they argued letting the merger close would irreparably harm competition.

California and 11 states sued on July 13, arguing the deal would create a media behemoth with ​the power to raise prices in film and television.

If the deal is allowed to close, Paramount would soon begin cutting jobs and sharing sensitive information with Warner Bros., actions that are hard to undo if the merger is ultimately found to be illegal, the states argued.

The lawsuit, filed in Oakland federal court, threatens to derail Paramount CEO David Ellison's bid to transform his company into a major rival of Netflix NFLX.O and Disney DIS.N.

Paramount has said the lawsuit distorts settled antitrust law, and that delaying the transaction would only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered through years of industry disruption.

-Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles/Reuters