US regulators have cleared Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global after months of review and amid a row over the studio’s settlement of a civil action brought by President Donald Trump.
Terms for the $8bn deal were settled last August, ending month of on/off talks.
Skydance will acquire Paramounts’ majority shareholder, National Amusements, before merging with the studio to create a “a next-generation media and technology leader”.
The deal needed the approval of US communications regulator, the FCC.
Earlier this month Paramount reached a $16m settlement in a dispute with President Trump over the editing of a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, the former US Vice President and Trump’s opponent in last year’s election.
The show had used different segments of the same answer in pre-transmission publicity and the broadcast edition, prompting complaints from Trump that the programme was seeking to boost his rival.
Skydance offered a number of undertakings ahead of the FCC’s approval, including the appointment of an ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias at CBS.
It’s also promised end diversity schemes within the company, following a growing a trend among US firms since Trump’s return to the White House.
No date has yet been set for completion of the deal.