Latest in Makan Delrahim

UPDATED, with additional comments: Makan Delrahim, who as the Justice Department’s antitrust chief during Donald Trump’s administration challenged AT&T’s combination with Time Warner, has a different view of the planned spinoff of WarnerMedia. “I wish both companies and Mr. Zaslav and Mr. Stankey the best,” Delrahim…

Makan Delrahim, the chief of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, is departing on January 19, the day before Joe Biden’s inauguration. Delrahim submitted his resignation to Donald Trump on Wednesday, in a letter in which he outlined the accomplishments of the division during his tenure. He cited an effort to…

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is reorganizing its internal operations, shifting media and entertainment to a section devoted to the telecommunications sector. The changes unveiled on Thursday by Makan Delrahim, the chief of the division, were outlined along with plans designed to strengthen enforcement…

2nd UPDATE, 3:48 PM: In a move reminiscent of its recent Supreme Court co-headlining appearance with Comcast, the Department of Justice today is seeking to speak at a pivotal upcoming hearing in the Writer Guild of America’s antitrust dust-up with WME, CAA and UTA. The Makan Delrahim-led antitrust unit of Donald Trump…

The Justice Department filed a motion Friday in a New York federal court to terminate the Paramount consent decrees, the 71-year-old rules that have restricted studio distributors’ control over exhibition. If a judge approves the motion, it would clear the way for studios to once again take significant ownership of…

UPDATED with closing stock prices. The Department of Justice revelation Monday of its plan to roll back decades-old regulations governing studios and movie theaters pushed beleaguered exhibition stocks higher Tuesday as investors saw the upside of the move. On Wall Street, shares in AMC Entertainment, the No. 1…

In the hours after the Justice Department announced it would move to terminate the Paramount consent decrees, the stock price in AMC, Cinemark and IMAX all popped in after-hours trading. But even if studios are freed from 71-year-old restrictions that prevent them from exercising significant control over the…

The Justice Department will ask a federal court to eliminate the Paramount consent decrees, the 71-year-old restrictions on major distributors’ control of the exhibition pipeline. The elimination of the decrees could alter the dynamics of the business, and perhaps lead to further consolidation. But the DOJ, which has…

Already under investigation and review by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet could soon face similar probes in more than a dozen states. Appearing Tuesday at the the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum (see full video above), DOJ antitrust…

Makan Delrahim, the Donald Trump appointee at the U.S. Department of Justice, who heads the antitrust division and led the lawsuit seeking to block AT&T’s Time Warner acquisition, has a new target: tech giants. Delrahim’s boss, Attorney General William Barr, has increased rhetoric questioning tech company methods in…

In a keynote conversation at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Department of Justice antitrust chief Makan Delrahim pointed to a carriage impasse between the UFC and DirecTV as proof of AT&T’s monopoly power now that it owns WarnerMedia. Last month, ESPN signed an expanded deal with the UFC that makes the streaming platform…

Makan Delrahim, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, said the DOJ’s legal defeat in its long quest to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner was disappointing but did bear some fruit on appeal. “You learn more from losing than from winning,” Delrahim said in a speech at a Washington conference…