Paramount bracing for long game as its $80B deal for Warner Bros. Discovery gets attacked in California

David and Larry Ellison are used to playing the long game, and that’s exactly what their media giant Paramount Skydance is bracing for in its $80 billion pursuit of Warner Bros.Discovery, On The Money has learned.The hurdle, of course, is the bombshell lawsuit from 12 state attorneys general just filed to block the mega-merger, and the recent decision by a federal judge in San Francisco to grant a temporary restraining order that was recently extended and prevents PSKY from closing the transaction at least for another month.The next shoe to drop, people inside the Ellison camp tell me, is likely that the deal gets delayed indefinitely with the judge issuing a preliminary injunction.

A lengthy trial could follow and PSKY could lose despite having good evidence that the tie-up doesn’t violate antitrust laws.That, in turn, has the Ellisons thinking about fighting this thing all the way to the Supreme Court.It won’t be pretty.

Lots of mud thrown at the Ellisons by the Trump-hating AGs bringing the case.Shareholders of WBD could take another hit; its stock is already well below the deal price on the lawsuit and likely to fall further if the judge issues an injunction.But it won’t be the first time the father-and-son duo has faced adversity – and won.

The takeover of Paramount from the controlling Redstone family was anything but easy.They initially lost the long and contentious bidding war for Warner Bros.

Discovery to Netflix, only to mount a come-from-behind victory by outbidding the streaming giant.Their deal received the greenlight from the merger-friendly Trump administration, but the Ellisons knew a cabal of Dem AGs were waiting in the wings to scuttle their efforts, which means they and their savvy GC, Makan Delrahim, have been war-gaming this for some time.“There’s no f–king way we give up,” said one person in the Paramount orbit.“The Ellisons don’t quit.”To be clear, they believe the injunction is all but certain for several reaso...