Overview
- Multiple outlets report that Paramount Skydance and California Attorney General Rob Bonta have held advanced, confidential talks to resolve the 12-state antitrust suit blocking the planned Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery deal.
- Talks have focused on structural fixes requested by the states, including possible divestitures or running the studios separately for a period, because plaintiffs say common ownership and behavioral promises would not preserve competition.
- Near-term deadlines are concentrating leverage for both sides: a $7 million-per-day ticking fee would begin on Oct. 1 and a hearing on Paramount’s request that plaintiffs post about a $1.88 billion bond is scheduled for Sept. 24.
- Paramount CEO David Ellison has publicly and privately threatened to relocate operations out of California if the deal cannot close before the fee accrues, prompting outreach from Tennessee, Texas and Georgia and alarm from Los Angeles leaders.
- If talks fail the parties will hold a court-ordered settlement conference on Oct. 14–15 and proceed to a merits trial set for March 2027, with economic studies and labor groups warning of job and output risks to the Los Angeles area.