Guild

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has publicly pushed back on Paramount Skydance's tactics in the antitrust suit over its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, calling a recent motion to force a $1.88 billion bond onto taxpayers a sign of "desperation" and dismissing threats to relocate Paramount out of California as ineffective pressure. Bonta, who leads 12 state attorneys general suing to block the merger ahead of a March trial, said he remains open to settlement talks but only through "structural," not "behavioral," remedies — such as divesting cable channels rather than pledging future theatrical output.

Bonta noted some shifting positions among stakeholders, with the DGA, IATSE and Cinema United now favoring settlement, though WGA, SAG-AFTRA and the Teamsters still oppose the deal. He said Governor Newsom and gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra's comments favoring negotiation align with his own preference to resolve disputes outside court, while insisting the case remains a straightforward antitrust matter unaffected by press-freedom concerns over CNN or CBS News ownership. Arizona lawmakers continue to scrutinize taxpayer exposure from the bond dispute.