Leaks out of David Ellison‘s inner circle said the CEO would take his Paramount ball and leave California if state Attorneys General didn’t back off on their antitrust suit to stop the $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery.
After over 100 years, Paramount brass have told key officials and stakeholders the company “deadly serious” about leaving California and the home of Hollywood. Among those told a deposit ha been put on the moving trucks is the L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and state AG Rob Bonta.
“Mayor Bass is focused on protecting and fighting for jobs in L.A., including critical jobs in the entertainment industry that have been a vital part of Los Angeles’ economy,” a spokesperson for City Hall told Deadline today. “She’s been engaged on this issue and will continue to fight to make sure L.A. is home to Hollywood,” the Mayor’s office added, with the core topic being keeping the Paramount corporate HQ and the thousands of jobs it holds in the City of Angels.
Paramount had no comment when contacted by Deadline about the exit plans and how far along they are.
The potentially devastating blow to any already ailing Tinseltown industry comes as the mega-merger with David Zaslav’s WBD is trapped in the legal leg hold trap of the July 13 filed antitrust lawsuit from a dozen states and the Writers Guild of America. Even with court ordered settlement meetings set for next months and a hearing next week over Paramount’s desire for a $1.88 billion bond from the plaintiffs to cover “extraordinary losses” the company anticipates, clearly the wait for the March 2, 2027 starting trial was too much and too late
Ellison’s big move to move comes almost two weeks before the October 1 deadline that had been bandied around in the rumors out of the Melrose lot since the legal battle with Golden State Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other blue state AGs over the WBD deal formally went nuclear two months ago. While there are a number of pricey fees in motion under the merger contract, the “extraordinary losses” Paramount have been referring to specifically is the $7-million-a-day ticking fee in the WBD contract that kicks in (surprise surprise) on October 1.
TMZ first reported Paramount contacting city and state officials with some sort of exit announcement.
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