CME has not issued a statement on the ruling. 

CME founder Ronald Lauder currently holds rights to Time Warner’s votes, but that agreement is set to expire at the end of June 2013. 

At issue was the question of whether the Time Warner voting rights would constitute unfair competition. Time Warner also owns HBO, which has a strong presence in Central Europe, as well as Warner Bros. In a statement the EC said, “The Commission’s investigation confirmed that the proposed transaction will not have a negative effect on competition, since the activities of the parties are mainly complementary and not in direct competition with each other.”

Time Warner first bought a stake in CME in 2009 with the agreement that Lauder would have its voting rights for four years. Since then, the advertising market has been in decline, and CME stock has fallen from around $20 per share, hovering around $3.50 per share on NASDAQ on 19 June.