{"id":931159,"date":"2026-07-13T03:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/931159\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T03:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:29:18","slug":"paramount-might-leave-california-if-sued-over-warner-bros-discovery-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/931159\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount Might Leave California if Sued Over Warner Bros. Discovery Merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Paramount<\/a> is reportedly considering leaving California as the Golden State and others are said to be preparing a lawsuit over its planned $111\u00a0billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Sunday, Semafor reported<\/a> that \u201cfriends and advisers\u201d to Paramount chief David Ellison have been urging him to consider relocating his corporate headquarters out of the state. The news comes as California and other states are \u201cpreparing to file\u201d a lawsuit to block<\/a> the merger, according to The New York Times.<\/p>\n

\n\tCiting\u00a0\u201cpeople familiar with the discussions,\u201d Semafor reported that Ellison is being \u201cpushed\u201d to consider relocating out of state, which would also move $30 million in planned spending out of California, if Attorney General Rob Bonta sues to block the deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, the news outlet noted that no decision has been made regarding a move. It\u2019s worth noting that Paramount did buy space<\/a> in New Jersey last year. The studio signed a 10-year lease to occupy more than 285,000 square feet of 1888 Studios\u2019 production campus in Bayonne, which potentially makes Paramount eligible to receive a tax credit of up to 40 percent for movies and TV shows filmed in the state.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, California has reportedly \u201ctaken the lead\u201d on a potential lawsuit to block the merger, with states including New York, Washington and Connecticut saying they will join in, according to NYT. According to a draft of the lawsuit, it reportedly claims that the merger would hamper competition for tentpole movies, among other concerns.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor its part, Paramount has argued that the deal will boost competition in Hollywood, saying it\u2019s necessary to compete against tech giants including Netflix, Amazon and Apple.<\/p>\n

\n\tReuters reported<\/a> July 8 that a lawsuit could be filed as early as this week. Paramount is aiming to close the deal in third-quarter 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are confident the facts and the law support this transaction, and we will continue to defend it vigorously,\u201d Paramount told NYT.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe studio echoed that sentiment to Semafor: \u201cWe continue to engage constructively with the remaining few regulators around the world still considering the merger, including State Attorneys General, and are prepared to address any legitimate antitrust issues. We are confident this transaction raises no such concerns, as demonstrated by the dozens of antitrust authorities around the world that have carefully reviewed the transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast month, news surfaced that the European Commission is expected to approve <\/a>the merger ahead of an upcoming deadline to open an in-depth probe. In addition, competition cops in China and South Africa have cleared the merger, along with antitrust enforcers in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Serbia and North Macedonia. Regulators probing foreign investments from Gulf sovereign wealth funds in Germany, Italy, France, Romani, Slovenia, Belgium, Czechia, New Zealand and have also approved the merger.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have been engaged with all regulatory and law enforcement bodies in a constructive and transparent manner and will continue to do so,\u201d a Paramount spokesperson told THR <\/a>last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount is reportedly considering leaving California as the Golden State and others are said to be preparing a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":931160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,57861,15329,67,132,68,27281],"class_list":["post-931159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-mergers","tag-paramount","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116910552801125328","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}