Bonta originally led a group of state attorneys general who filed a lawsuit challenging the massive $111 billion deal that was initially expected to close during the third quarter of this year.\u00a0By Monday, however, Paramount announced that a settlement had been reached<\/a>, paving the way for the merger to continue.<\/p>\n Critics of the merger have accused Bonta and Newsom of caving to Paramount amid the settlement after reports suggested CEO David Ellison was considering moving the company’s headquarters out of California<\/a> if a deal was not made, an accusation Newsom denied.<\/p>\n DAVID ELLISON BREAKS SILENCE ON PARAMOUNT-WBD MERGER FIGHT, CNN INSIDERS DON\u2019T BUY \u2018LIP SERVICE\u2019 ABOUT NETWORK<\/a><\/p>\n Paramount announced a settlement with California Attorney General Rob Bonta over its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (Erik McGregor\/LightRocket)<\/p>\n “I didn\u2019t pressure anybody,” Newsom told Axios’ Alex Thompson<\/a>. “I made the point. I\u2019ve made it very publicly and consistently and been reported maybe two or three hundred different ways that we, me, many folks, including the mayor, soon-to-be governor-elect [Xavier] Becerra and others, preferred, in the words of Rob Bonta himself, that he focus on getting this done at the boardroom, not the courtroom.”<\/p>\n “And the minute that Rob said that on CNBC, we amplified that, said this was a better approach. That was the framework, and he worked hard to deliver for California, and I think he did,” Newsom continued.<\/p>\n Bonta confirmed the settlement during a press conference on Monday, although he insisted that it was not done in support of the merger itself.<\/p>\n “This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger; it is not a blessing of the broader merger,”\u00a0Bonta said.<\/p>\n CNN STAFFERS ACCEPT NEW REALITY AS PARAMOUNT’S TAKEOVER OF WARNER BROS DISCOVERY GOES FULL STEAM AHEAD<\/a><\/p>\n California Gov. Gavin Newsom denied pressuring California Attorney General Rob Bonta to settle with Paramount. (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “I am always willing to come to the table for honest, good-faith negotiations, and when we can find a strong solution that protects competition and consumers, I\u2019d rather resolve the case, the issue, in the boardroom instead of the courtroom,” Bonta added. “That\u2019s what happened here.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Fox News Digital<\/a> reached out to Newsom and Bonta’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It\u2019s all left-wing virtue-signaling until economic reality slaps you in the face,” Media Research Center Business associate editor Joseph Vazquez told Fox News Digital. “Governor Gavin Newsom knows that he\u2019s essentially turned his state into a pariah for business, and Attorney General Bonta\u2019s Marxist legal vendetta against the bourgeoisie involved in the Paramount\/Warner deal was a perfect example of that. It was good antitrust fodder for the radical left for a time, until push came to shove.”<\/p>\n “The last thing the Democrats \u2014 or Newsom, for that matter \u2014 need at this point in a midterm election season is for a punitive tax hell like California to be pinned as the reason a multibillion-dollar media giant like Paramount eventually flees Los Angeles for a more business-friendly, Republican state like Tennessee or Texas, regardless of whether the merger risks another hole in an already-thinning left-wing media firewall or not,” he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n “In the end, Democrats and their media allies know that the economy is a big issue for voters, and giving the Republicans another anecdote to skewer their disdain for business \u2014 even for the lucrative Hollywood market \u2014 isn\u2019t politically expedient in the slightest,” Vazquez added.\u00a0<\/p>\n CALIFORNIA AG ROB BONTA FACES \u2018POLITICAL FAVOR\u2019 CLAIMS OVER NETFLIX-LINKED $1M TRAIL IN PARAMOUNT SUIT<\/a><\/p>\n Paramount CEO David Ellison has reportedly threatened to move the company out of California if Bonta’s lawsuit was not settled. (Kyle Grillot\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Ahead of the settlement, several progressive and Democratic figures urged Bonta not to settle<\/a> with Paramount, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Warren later released a statement condemning the settlement on Monday.<\/p>\n “Allowing one Trump-aligned, foreign-owned conglomerate to dominate American news and entertainment is a disastrous outcome,” Warren said<\/a>. “After the Trump administration ran an apparently corrupt antitrust review process to wave through a blatantly illegal merger, this settlement greenlights an anti-monopoly disaster that will result in higher prices and fewer jobs, and enables a handful of billionaires to call the shots in the American media.”<\/p>\n![\"Paramount](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/paramount-israeli-boycott.jpg\")
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