California Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters that “we don’t have anything scheduled” with Paramount to negotiate a potential settlement of the antitrust challenge to the proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Bonta continued to lash out at the company, claiming that they were responsible for leaks of negotiation details in advance of a planned session on Monday. Late on Sunday, Bonta abruptly canceled the meeting.
“They wanted to have the settlement discussions, and we are happy to hear them out,” Bonta said. “We thought that they were reaching out to us in good faith and sincerely, and the unfortunately, they violated the rules of engagement, and that was not okay. They leaked lies to the press while we were in settlement negotiations, and that’s not okay. That’s not acceptable. That is amateur hour. That is playing games.”
Paramount issued a statement on Monday in which it said that it “has not been the source of the leaks of any of our confidential discussions with the AG’s office.”
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported, and confirmed by Deadline, that the AG’s asks included keeping the studios separate as well as unloading some cable networks. But there were earlier conversations between the parties. California Governor Gavin Newsom had indicated on Friday that there “are many meetings that are going on, and there’s a lot of conversation.”
Bonta said, “It is the alleged disclosure of the substance of the conversations of what occurred in those meetings that is the problem. Those are required under federal law to be confidential, and for good reason. So you can be candid. So you can be productive. So maybe you can even be creative in those discussions. If you’re having confidential settlement discussions, and as you’re having them, one of the parties is going out to the press and representing to the press what’s being said by you in those negotiations and lying about it, whether it’s true or whether they’re lying, neither is acceptable.”
He also did not blame Newsom for disclosing that there had been talks. Bonta said that “we saw sourced people who had knowledge about what was discussed in the room. It was only my office and Paramount. The governor does not have anything to do with the concern. Paramount has everything to do with this issue.”
Bonta said that Paramount “can also fix it, and if they want to fix it and stop playing games, we will be happy to meet.”
A Paramount spokesperson said on Monday, “We 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.”
Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general sued to block the merger last month. A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order that prevented Paramount from closing the transaction for four weeks, but the company later agreed not to complete the deal until June or until legal issues are resolved. The judge set a trial for next March.
Bonta also told reporters that “we’re winning this lawsuit.” He also contended that the judge, Araceli Martínez-Olguín, said that Paramount was “likely to lose the whole case….that we, the states, are likely to succeed on the merits and block the merger.” Paramount’s legal team, though, has claimed that they will prevail once the whole case is laid out in a trial that is expected to be heavy in discovery documents and competing expert witnesses.
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