California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Sunday canceled mediation talks with Paramount Skydance over its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, throwing another twist into a monthslong battle over the future of two of Hollywood’s biggest studios.
Paramount had planned a $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. But Bonta led California and 11 other states in bringing an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal last month, arguing the merger would wield excessive power across the movie studio and cable television markets, unlawfully weakening competition. A trial for the case is set for March.
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While Bonta had expressed some willingness to settle the case ahead of trial if the companies made significant concessions, the Democratic attorney general over the weekend canceled a meeting with Paramount representatives set for Monday, due to accusations that the studio had leaked details about a previous meeting and is acting in bad faith. Paramount pushed back later in the day, denying it leaked information and saying it shared concerns about “the public discussions and misreporting” said to be surrounding the deal.
“My office was scheduled to meet with Paramount on Monday, August 24th. I have pulled down this meeting,” Bonta told the Washington Examiner. “As I’ve said before, generally for all cases, I prefer to resolve disputes in the boardroom, not the courtroom. As I’ve also said, if the opposing party in litigation wants to meet in good faith to make a sincere effort to resolve the case, we’ll meet.”
Bonta was expected to begin preliminary settlement talks on Monday after Paramount appeared to threaten to pull out of California by October, triggering concerns over the possible exit from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). In an interview last week, the attorney general suggested he is open to settling the case before trial, provided Paramount and Warner Bros. make concessions. Bonta had previously claimed the merger would result in “higher costs, fewer options, and fewer people making movies.”
The $111 billion proposed merger has been formally in the works since February.
Ahead of the March trial, possible settlement talks have derailed into accusations of antisemitism. Paramount CEO Larry Ellison, who is Jewish, criticized actor Mark Ruffalo for opposing the merger on the basis of anti-Israel views over the weekend, telling the Los Angeles Times that “words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far.”
ROB BONTA CALLS PARAMOUNT’S THREAT TO DITCH CALIFORNIA ‘BLACKMAIL’ TO FORCE SETTLEMENT TALKS
Ruffalo called the accusation “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”
