Whatever the true state of settlement talks this weekend among Paramount, a coalition of state Attorneys General and the Writers Guild of America to end the antitrust action over the $111 billion Warner Bros Discovery merger, the people against the deal from the beginning are not going quietly.
“As Trump tries to ban CNN from the White House, it would be a massive mistake to cave on the Paramount merger,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Saturday morning as the current WBD-owned CNN and MS Now journalists were denied access to the Executive Mansion. “The last thing we need is another Trump-controlled media conglomerate abusing its power to stomp out competition. This is a dangerous merger.”
Compared to Warren, the A-list-supported Block the Merger is truly angry and feeling betrayed.
“The rumored ‘deal’ to usher the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger forward is an insult to everyone who has stood up against this harmful transaction and to the hundreds of thousands of workers, journalists, and consumers who will be hurt if it goes forward,” the DC-based group told Deadline today of reported behind-closed-doors negotiations underway right now. “Let’s be very clear: an agreement based on unenforceable concessions is a win only for David Ellison. It is an L for everyone else.”
As leaks of talks between the AGs, led by California’s politically ambitious AG Rob Bonta, and the Ellison-run Paramount flooded the media late Friday, the possible L (loss) that BTM are spotlighting could include guardrails around CNN editorial independence, some selloffs and job assurances. The hope down on Melrose is such a deal would render moot the March 2, 2027, trial start date currently on the calendar in federal court — and all the financial and political blast radius that comes with it for the Trump-friendly Ellisons.
To that, with massive job, production and tax-revenue losses on the table, Paramount’s plan B for the last eight weeks has been to pressure Bonta from all sides to make a deal. Two days of court-ordered settlement talks have already been set for mid-October, but that’s procedural in the judicial system and widely expected to go nowhere fast.
Also, mid-October doesn’t quite line up with Ellison’s balance sheet.
Looking at an October 1 date in which a $7 million-a-day ticking fee to WBD shareholders begins, as well as a September 24 hearing on a Hail Mary desire for a $1.88 billion bond from the states and the WGA, Ellison’s crew has been leaking more than ever threats to exit California for a red state.
Even as the likes of outgoing California Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged privately at the recent Primetime Emmys that the Ellisons were being too heavy-handed, the multi-pronged pressure campaign seems to have paid off. Whereas Bonta once accused Paramount of “blackmail” with its threats and theatrical promises, the reelection-seeking AG now has his lieutenants in the room with Ellison’s execs.
The latest word on the wire is the parties could have an agreement before the official start of Yom Kippur this weekend.
Word is also out there that New York AG Letitia James isn’t as “in step,” according to a source, with Bonta as she was when it came to burying the hatchet with Paramount. There is also the wildcard of the WGA, which joined the AGs’ July 13 suit after filing an anti-merger action of its own.
“This is such bullsh*t,” an industry insider told Deadline this morning of the ParaBros talks. “Bonta should have called their bluff, instead he caved,” she added, noting such tactics are typical of Democratic politicians in the MAGA era.
Block the Merger, with its support from such names as Bryan Cranston, Hannah Einbinder, Bradley Whitford, W. Kamau Bell, Kristen Vangsness, Jane Fonda and Rati Gupta, wasn’t quite as blunt today in its statement, but the vibe was much the same.
“Thousands of industry leaders took a risk when they spoke out publicly about the harm the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would cause,” said the outfit, which also counts Noah Wyle, Denis Villeneuve, Atsuko Okatsuka, Damon Lindelof and Sofia Coppola among its backers. Claiming that more than 75,000 people have joined them to tell the state AGs to stand strong including national leaders like Warren, the group said, “We know a bad deal when we see one. AG Bonta and his fellow state AGs should reject this deal, stand strong, and fully block the merger with no concessions.”
That mention of Warren may have greater significance this weekend than initially apparent. Like everyone else, Paramount is keenly aware of what the polls are projecting going into November’s midterms. If the midterms actually occur and if the new Congress is actually seated (two big ifs in America right now), a projected Democratic majority in the House and Senate have promised to probe and even break up mega media mergers.
Even with Oracle founder Larry Ellison the primary backer of his son’s ParaBros dreams, the even older Ellison’s net worth, which has been declining of late, may not be able to handle the strain of months and months of such probes. So perhaps it is the first week of November, not October 1, that is the calendar date the younger Ellison is hoping to beat this weekend.
Paramount has been in “no comment” mode for weeks since the Melrose lot got burned on allegations of leaks detailing past preliminary talks with Bonta’s gang.
Bonta’s office did not respond Saturday to Deadline’s request for comment on Warren and Block the Merger’s opposition to the talks.
