Merger settled Monday, questioned Thursday, approved Wednesday, closed Tuesday: $110 billion, concessions that 'promise less than nothing'

…(cont) On Thursday the 24th, a federal judge took the settlement into a virtual hearing to confirm it complied with federal antitrust law. The Washington Examiner reported the merger was not a done deal. That was the high point of the scrutiny. Six days later, Wednesday, September 30, a California judge formally approved the settlement — the final hurdle, per the court. Six days after that, Tuesday, October 6, the deal closed. Fifteen days, announcement to close, one hearing, no amendment reported.

Here is the only line item I can find that moved. On September 21 the purchase was reported at $111 billion. On October 6 it closed at $110 billion. One billion dollars, nine-tenths of one percent, the width of a rounding convention. That is the largest documented difference between the settlement that was supposed to fix this deal and the deal.

What closed, per the closing notice: two of the largest movie studios in the country, CBS News and CNN under one owner, Comedy Central, TNT. The suit NPR described as endangering the bid is over. The judge's questions were answered by the calendar.

On the day it closed, CBS News ran a segment on what audiences could expect from the merger, noting in the body that CBS News' parent company is Paramount Skydance. The BBC ran its own on what the deal means for you. One of those two outlets was reporting on its own purchase, and said so. I do not raise that as a complaint. I raise it as a reconciliation problem: when the entity under review files the review, there is no second column to tie out against.

Gaps this size turn up in one column reliably. The suing offices got a signature. The buying family got the asset, hon, at the price it was always going to pay, less the rounding.