\n Paramount wants the states that are suing over the Warner Bros. Discovery deal to post a $1.9 billion bond.\n <\/p>\n
\n The states are scoffing at the idea. \u201cThey don\u2019t have any legitimate claim. I mean, honestly, this reeks of desperation,\u201d California attorney general Rob Bonta told CNN in response.\n <\/p>\n
\n Paramount made the request in a court motion on Monday, asserting that \u201cthis is a textbook case for requiring bond.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n It remains to be seen if the judge overseeing the case, Araceli Martinez-Olgu\u00edn, will agree, but there is reason to be skeptical.\n <\/p>\n
\n Such bonds are up to the judge, and earlier in the case Martinez-Olgu\u00edn waived the bond requirement because, she wrote, the states had demonstrated that they were bringing the suit \u201cto enforce important public interests.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The argument in Monday\u2019s motion revolves around the \u201cticking fees\u201d that make the acquisition of WBD, CNN\u2019s parent, more costly for Paramount starting in October. The fees are a part of the merger agreement that the companies signed last winter. The agreement remains in place until June 2027.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cEach day that passes after September 30th without the merger closing, Paramount must pay roughly $7 million in \u2018ticking fees\u2019 to Warner Bros. stockholders and yet more fees to its financing sources for maintaining their commitments,\u201d the motion states.\n <\/p>\n
\n An antitrust trial is slated for March. By the time the judge rules, Paramount \u201cwill have incurred $1.3 billion in unrecoverable financial losses\u201d from the fees, the motion states.\n <\/p>\n
\n And so the company says the states and the other plaintiff, the Writers\u2019 Guild of America, should be on the hook. If Paramount prevails in court, it would be paid the bond, thereby compensating for the ticking fees and other costs.\n <\/p>\n
\n A spokesperson for Bonta\u2019s office responded by saying, \u201cParamount went into this process with eyes wide open. They are lying in a bed of their own making, and once again, trying to blackmail us to get us to back down.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The coalition of 12 state attorneys general that sued to block the deal last month notched an early win when Martinez-Olgu\u00edn issued a temporary restraining order. At that time, she declined to require a bond.\n <\/p>\n
\n Paramount and the plaintiffs then agreed to skip a preliminary injunction hearing and move straight toward trial, despite the likelihood that the \u201cticking fees\u201d would start to add up.\n <\/p>\n
\n Antitrust experts have asserted that Paramount is trying to pressure the states into a pre-trial settlement. Some have also suggested that the company is laying the legal groundwork for a fast-track appeals process.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cRegardless of when the judicial process concludes, Paramount is certain to suffer serious financial loss,\u201d the motion states.\n <\/p>\n
\n In an interview with CNN\u2019s Jim Sciutto on \u201cThe Brief,\u201d Bonta pointed out that Paramount agreed to the \u201cticking fee\u201d terms while knowing that \u201cregulators were still looking at this deal, including us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cNow,\u201d Bonta said, \u201cthey\u2019re trying to put the California taxpayers on the hook.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n He said he expects the judge will reject the bond request \u201cbecause there\u2019s no basis for it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Sciutto asked about the possibility that Paramount is setting up an appeal that could reach all the way to the Supreme Court.\n <\/p>\n
\n Bonta said he doesn\u2019t know if Paramount has a long-term plan like that, but \u201cI respectfully suggest that they focus on the antitrust case in front of them that we set forth in our complaint, because that\u2019s all this is about.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Paramount executives and allies have repeatedly charged that the state AG case is really about politics, but Bonta and others have rejected that assertion, saying they are merely seeking to enforce antitrust law.\n <\/p>\n
\n Bonta said Monday, \u201cWe\u2019re confident with the law and the facts in our case.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount wants the states that are suing over the Warner Bros. Discovery deal to post a $1.9 billion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-861945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}