{"id":467181,"date":"2026-09-17T21:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467181\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T21:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:18:09","slug":"ag-rob-bonta-says-paramounts-california-exit-is-david-ellisons-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467181\/","title":{"rendered":"AG Rob Bonta Says Paramount’s California Exit Is David Ellison\u2019s Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cWe, respectfully, didn\u2019t think that the United States DOJ did an adequate review, and we thought we needed to step in to make sure we were protecting consumers,\u201d California AG Rob Bonta<\/a> said of a lawsuit that\u2019s rocking Hollywood after 12 attorneys general sued to block Paramount\u2019s merger<\/a> with Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was dinging the Department of Justice, which blessed the deal in June<\/a>. \u201cWhen we looked at, it was and continues to be, a black-and-white, bread-and-butter case. We looked at the facts. We looked at the law. We did our own independent assessment of the law, the facts, and we decided that there was an antitrust violation in three separate markets we set forth in our complaint,\u201d he told The Atlantic Festival in New York on a panel of State Attorneys General.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe thought we needed to step in to make sure we were protecting consumers who are paying satellite bills and cable bills, consumers who are trying to enjoy one of the joys of life and go to the movies, and make sure that those costs aren\u2019t raised, make sure that jobs are protected, make sure that those choices are in competition in the marketplace,\u201d he said, appearing alongside New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Pennsylvania Attorney General David Sunday. They discussed how AGs increasingly have stepped up in antitrust and consumer protection fights across sectors with recent high-profile case against Live Nation-Ticketmaster, Nexstar-Tegna and Meta.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Parties Lay Out Key Discovery And Other Dates For Pending Paramount<\/a>-WBD Antitrust Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe Paramount-WBD<\/a> suit is set for trial in March<\/a>. The AGs secured a temporary restraining order early on, and Paramount agreed to delay closing the deal<\/a> until next summer. The court has ordered two days of settlement talks<\/a> in October, but the sides are far apart. Absent an agreement, Ellison this week escalated threats to pull Paramount out of California.<\/a> It\u2019s not clear to where. Nashville felt like a front-runner for a bit, but Texas might be gaining. Ellison has said he\u2019d of course prefer to stay in California.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere have been threats, those aren\u2019t new. The continued threats to leave the state of California. I can\u2019t comment on what a company decides to do, especially a company that has professed a commitment to Hollywood and to California. If they make that choice to leave, that is their choice and their choice alone. They own it. It lies at their feet.,\u201d Bonta said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have a job to enforce the law without fear, without favor, and at the same time, we are always open to coming to the table if it is in good faith and sincere, and we will always explore an opportunity to get the results that we want based on our evaluation of the case at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBonta is looking for major concessions said to include selling WBD\u2019s cable networks and keeping the operations of the two studios separate. Ellison is likely trying to calculate what compromises he can afford. He has promised $6 billion in synergies. The combined company would have about $80 billion in debt to service. <\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about Paramount\u2019s insistence that plaintiffs post a $1.88 billion bond, Bonta said: \u201cWhat I think that is they don\u2019t have any right to that. In our view. I think that\u2019s buyer\u2019s remorse \u2026 There was no part of the agreement [with the court] that involved the states posting a bond.\u201d The judge will rule on a bond at a Sept. 24 hearing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re trying to rewrite an agreement, a commitment, a promise that they already made, and we feel very confident going into a hearing \u2026 The judge will decide.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe bond would cover a ticking fee Par agreed to pay Warner as a term of the merger. At $7 million a day starting Oct. 1 if the merger had not closed. That would comes to $1.88 billion by early June. Either side can walk away at that point. Paramount would owe WBD a $7 billion termination fee in that case instead of the ticking fee.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe DOJ filed a brief to the case docket this week supporting Paramount\u2019s right to a bond<\/a>. Paramount insists it is statutorily entitled to a bond. It has defended the merger, announced in February, as good for the entertainment industry and committed to making 30 films a year between the two studios.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe, respectfully, didn\u2019t think that the United States DOJ did an adequate review, and we thought we needed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,21405,6336,121957,2794],"class_list":["post-467181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-david-ellison","tag-paramount","tag-paramount-wbd","tag-rob-bonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}