Paramount Skydance is in advanced talks with California AG Rob Bonta over his suit to block the media giant’s $81 billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a report.
The two sides have talked about possible compromises like having Paramount operate it and WBD’s studios separately for a while, instead of combining them right away, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.
The negotiations come after Paramount CEO David Ellison threatened to pull his legendary studio out of California if a deal isn’t reached.
As recently as Thursday, he was talking tough about the case, saying he has been winning the legal battled – but adding he was “open” to settlement talks if Paramount comes to the table “in good faith.”
“We are always open to coming to the table if it is in good faith and it is sincere. And we will always explore an opportunity to get the results that we want based on our evaluation of the case at the table,” the prosecutor said at Thursday event in Manhattan.
Paramount brass have been eager to close the billion deal, the Journal noted – with a painful $7 million per day “ticking fee” kicking in Oct. 1 if the deal isn’t wrapped by then, under the terms of its agreement with WBD. Paramount has asked the states to put up a $1.88 billion bond to address the costs of delay in completing the deal, a request Bonta has rejected.
Recent months have seen Hollywood and Washington transfixed by the legal drama in the Golden State, with Tinseltown voicing mixed reactions to the mega-merger and local Dems urging Bonta to reach a settlement.
Last month, the AG cancelled a sit-down with Paramount at the last minute, accusing the studio of leaking inaccurate details beforehand.
But on Tuesday, the AG, Paramount and the Writers Guild of America announced they’d hold two days of talks with an eye to reaching a resolution next month.
Cali Dems including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have publicly urged Bonta to settle with Paramount, saying it’s vital to keep tens of thousands of Paramount jobs in the state.
“I will continue to engage with Paramount, Attorney General Bonta, and entertainment leaders to keep jobs in LA,” Bass recently wrote on X. “This industry was built here. Its workers are here. I’m going to fight like hell to keep it here.”
Paramount has been pursuing a strategy of making Bonta — who’s joined in the case by 11 other states — a pariah, as The Post previously reported.
The game plan “is to isolate Bonta in the state and in his own party,” said a source close to Paramount. “Every Dem pol in the state wants a settlement and is worried that Ellison will leave. They also think his antitrust case is a joke.”
TMZ reported Wednesday that Paramount came close to announcing its escape from LA on Tuesday, but backed down at the last minute.
The report put new pressure on city and state officials to keep the entertainment giant from joining the exodus of production and entertainment jobs from Hollywood.