Overview
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Tuesday he canceled a scheduled settlement meeting with Paramount after confidential details of the talks leaked to the press and he will not resume talks until the leaks stop.
- Iowa and Montana filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking permission to sue to block the 12-state, California-led antitrust suit and to prevent the case from proceeding in federal district court.
- A federal judge in the Northern District of California has already issued a temporary restraining order that paused closing and set a merits trial for March 2, 2027, while the parties agreed to a court-approved standstill delaying any closing until after that trial or until June 1, 2027.
- Paramount faces mounting financial pressure from contract terms that will trigger roughly $7 million per day in 'ticking fees' starting in October and from possible break fees, and regulators abroad plus the DOJ have largely cleared the deal, leaving the state suit as the main U.S. obstacle.
- The fight has split along party lines with labor groups and Democratic-led states pushing for structural remedies and Republican states defending the merger, and the Supreme Court request tests whether an interstate dispute of this sort belongs in the high court and how quickly it could act.