Paramount Skydance settles with state attorneys general after Ellison's California exit threat

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Summary · why it matters

Paramount Skydance reached a settlement with state attorneys general after CEO David Ellison leveraged a threat to leave California and take thousands of jobs with it, pressuring California Attorney General Rob Bonta to settle ahead of Paramount's ticking fee deadline of Sept. 30. Paramount was poised to owe Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders millions of dollars for each day the deal didn't close past Oct. 1, and reports about its intent to leave California ratcheted up in August. By late August, a slew of high-profile California Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Xavier Becerra, had called on Bonta to settle, with Newsom playing a key role in brokering settlement talks, a source familiar with the negotiations said. Several state AGs held out over the weekend ahead of the settlement seeking additional concessions, though they lacked Bonta's time pressure and, in most cases, California's litigation resources. Under the settlement, Ellison agreed to create an editorial oversight board for CBS and CNN and to short-term behavioral remedies including distributing a certain amount of films in theaters for the next five years and bringing production jobs back to the U.S., concessions Bonta presented as a win Monday even as former FTC Chair Lina Khan, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Jane Fonda criticized the outcome.

Impact on assets 2

Communication Services▲ · 2 stocks
Warner Bros Discovery Inc
WBD
▲ PositiveRegulationrelevance

Paramount's settlement removes regulatory delay, enabling the pending deal that would pay Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders millions.

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