A federal judge has approved Paramount’s settlement with 12 states that challenged its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing the companies to complete their $81 billion merger. Paramount has indicated that the acquisition could close as soon as early October.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued the order Wednesday. She ruled that the proposed consent decree represented a “fair, reasonable, and good faith approach to address the competitive harms” alleged in the states’ lawsuit.

Paramount had described the antitrust case as the last remaining hurdle before it could close the Warner acquisition. The ruling now allows two of Hollywood’s five remaining legacy studios to proceed with their planned combination.

Soon after Martínez-Olguín issued her decision Wednesday afternoon, Paramount announced another major development for the combined company. Ynon Kreiz, the current chief executive of toy giant Mattel, will join Paramount on Oct. 5.

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Kreiz will serve as a chief executive alongside David Ellison. The leadership announcement came as Paramount prepared to bring a sprawling collection of studios, networks, franchises, and streaming services together under one corporate roof.

The merger will unite HBO Max and a large library that includes the “Harry Potter” titles with Paramount’s holdings. CNN, CBS, the “Top Gun” franchise, and the Paramount+ streaming service will also become part of the same company.

Top prosecutors from 12 states sued in July, initially seeking to stop the transaction entirely. The legal challenge was led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The states alleged that a combined Paramount and Warner operation would “extinguish competition” and leave consumers with fewer choices. Their concerns focused particularly on movie theater audiences and cable customers.

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The states agreed last week to settle their claims after Paramount made several new commitments. Those pledges include increasing film production in the United States during the next five years and contributing millions of dollars to a fund for workers displaced by the merger.

Paramount also agreed to establish new editorial monitoring of CNN and CBS. The commitments became the foundation of the settlement that Martínez-Olguín ultimately approved.

Bonta announced the agreement on Sept. 21, saying it was about “protecting people’s careers, the lives they’ve built here in California, the livelihoods their families rely on.” He maintained that agreeing to the settlement did not amount to supporting the merger itself.

Critics quickly attacked the agreement, accusing the states of giving in to corporate pressure and arguing that the terms lacked sufficient force. Martínez-Olguín did not immediately approve the proposed settlement and stressed during a hearing that the court was not merely a “rubber stamp” for an agreement of this kind.

The judge gave outside opponents a brief opportunity to submit amicus briefs explaining their objections. Those critics included members of the Block The Merger coalition and the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Martínez-Olguín also directed Paramount and the states to answer a letter from Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, who had called for more extensive scrutiny of the transaction. After considering the objections, the judge found that demands for stronger settlement terms “do not rise to the level of legal violations upon which the Court can reject the parties’ negotiated resolution.”

The Block the Merger coalition continued to denounce the agreement Wednesday, calling it a “toothless” deal. The group argued that the merger lacked meaningful structural remedies and would harm jobs, creativity, independent journalism, and First Amendment rights.

“Allowing the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to move forward with no meaningful structural remedies will cost jobs, mute creativity, weaken independent journalism, and damage our First Amendment rights,” the coalition said. It added, “if there is one discernible benefit to the approval of this corporate takeover, it’s that people are now wide awake and paying attention –- and their anger is not going to fade away.”

The Writers Guild of America had filed a separate lawsuit shortly after the states brought their case in July. It also reached a settlement with Paramount last week after concluding that it could not continue the legal battle alone.

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