{"id":69800,"date":"2026-08-24T18:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/69800\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:39:19","slug":"california-ag-cancels-paramount-wbd-deal-meeting-stop-playing-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/69800\/","title":{"rendered":"California AG Cancels Paramount-WBD Deal Meeting: Stop “Playing Games”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA planned Monday meeting between David Ellison\u2019s\u00a0Paramount<\/a>\u00a0and California state officials, designed to kick off \u200csettlement talks over the state\u2019s lawsuit to block the entertainment company\u2019s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, has been called off at the last moment, California attorney general Rob Bonta\u00a0said. He is one of a group of state attorneys general that have taken aim at the planned mega-merger.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNot only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith,\u201d Bonta said in a statement. \u201cAs soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA dozen AGs, led by Bonta, whose\u00a0<\/a>antitrust lawsuit last month seeking to\u00a0block the merger<\/a>\u00a0has been a thorn in Ellison\u2019s side, have spoken out against the mega-deal, which could lead to the divestiture of Warner Bros. assets and cost more than $1 billion in \u201cticking-clock\u201d fees ahead of a March trial, among other potential fallout. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe share AG Bonta\u2019s concerns about the public discussions and misreporting that has surrounded this deal,\u201d a Paramount rep said in a statement in reply to Bonta. \u201cAs we have assured the Attorney General\u2019s office, Paramount has not been the source of the leaks of any of our confidential discussions with the AG\u2019s office.\u00a0\u00a0We remain hopeful and stand ready to continue good faith discussions to resolve the Attorneys General suit and move forward with our plans for increased competition and increased output to the benefit of the talent and entertainment workers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEllison has in recent weeks sought to fight back with a\u00a0media blitz, a\u00a0threat to leave California\u00a0and a motion to force Bonta\u2019s hand by\u00a0making taxpayers pay the ticking-clock fees.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom\u00a0signaled his support <\/a>on Friday for settlement talks in the antitrust suit seeking to block the\u00a0Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked about his stance on the merger and the antitrust suit from 12 states challenging it at a press appearance in San Francisco, the governor referenced\u00a0remarks <\/a>made by Bonta earlier in the week. \u201cLook, I was appreciative, I think this week, earlier this week, you heard the attorney general himself say he\u2019d prefer this settled in the boardroom, not the courtroom,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cSo I think there\u2019s some universal sentiment there, if that\u2019s possible. The question is if that\u2019s possible. And what\u2019s the best deal, what\u2019s the landing? And that has to be worked through.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A planned Monday meeting between David Ellison\u2019s\u00a0Paramount\u00a0and California state officials, designed to kick off \u200csettlement talks over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[8,9,296,7],"class_list":["post-69800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-paramount","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/117151947967873163","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}