Zohran Mamdani warns against Paramount’s Warner Bros takeover: “Bad for New Yorkers”
The Mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, has stated that the Warner Bros takeover by Paramount will be bad news for people in his district.
Mamdani went on record to speak out against the merger on April 23rd, just hours before shareholders of Warner Bros and Paramount voted in favour of the $111 billion takeover.
Despite shareholders voting in favour of the takeover, it’s still not a done deal and requires the US Department of Justice to approve the agreement, as well as regulators in Europe.
The New York mayor let his feelings be known on the takeover, writing on X, “This merger is bad for New Yorkers three times over. Thousands of jobs at risk here in the city. Streaming bills going up as competition disappears. And two of America’s most powerful media companies under one roof, deciding what you watch and what you hear.”
He continued, “Today, as Warner Bros. and Paramount shareholders vote, New York City is on record: this merger should be stopped.”
Paramount’s chief executive, David Ellison, has also been criticised for holding a dinner in honour of President Donald Trump on April 23rd, including by US representative Jamie Raskin, who attended a protest at the National Mall against the meeting, told CBS News that it’s “a lavish oligarch’s dinner for Donald Trump”.
Raskin, who is part of the Democratic Party, added, “We’re gathered here together tonight [because] in the building behind us, David Ellison is hosting a dinner to honor President Trump, a dinner that’s designed to cement the Ellisons to the president in their years-running corrupt merger scheme.”
Additionally, last week, 1000 leading figures in Hollywood, including Emma Thompson, Denis Villeneuve, and Mark Ruffalo, signed an open letter publicly opposing the proposed merger between Warner Bros and Paramount.
Speaking of the takeover, the open letter, seen by Far Out, said: “This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it. The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world.”
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