Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is approaching a Sept. 30 settlement deadline in Paramount's $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal, which includes roughly $30 billion of assumed WBD debt inherited from Discovery's 2022 combination with WarnerMedia. A ticking fee equivalent to about $7 million a day starts after Sept. 30, structured as 25 cents per share per quarter for WBD shareholders, or roughly $650 million a quarter, and the agreement also carries a $7 billion breakup fee if the deal is still unfinished by June 4, 2027. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other Democratic state attorneys general argue the tie-up would control roughly a third of theatrical film distribution and a third of basic cable channels, so a CNN divestiture discussed by Paramount Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim may ease political pressure but would not fix the antitrust case. WBD, CNN's parent, closed Tuesday at $27.65 for a market value near $67.87 billion, and its shares are up 146.43% over the past year on deal speculation; running to the March 2, 2027 trial set by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin could add an estimated $2.1 billion in ticking fees and about $190 million in extra bridge-loan financing costs. Paramount has $1.6 billion in cash and a $3.2 billion revolving credit line, the deal has cleared 65 foreign regulators with UK approval tied to five-year editorial-independence guarantees, and Sept. 30 now stands as the key decision point between settlement, a CNN divestiture offered as goodwill, or a trial fought with the meter still running.