California AGs block of Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could chase away key source of funds for Dems
The lawsuit to block Paramount Skydance’s $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros.Discovery could chase away a key source of funds for California’s Democratic Party — namely, the deep-pocketed executives who run Big Media, The Post has learned.Most of the workers in this ecosystem — the directors, screenwriters, stagehands and the reporters at the companies that combine entertainment with news gathering (like Warner, Paramount, Disney and Comcast), you name it — far outnumber the honchos and are reliable Democrats.
But the real money for financing campaigns — and Dem coffers on the national level as well — comes from the top.All of that could change, I am told, since California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a group of lefty AGs filed suit to break up Paramount’s WBD deal.Specifically, media and entertainment moguls, — many of them on Bonta’s home turf in Hollywood — are calling for the AG to reach a settlement with Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison, according to sources.It’s the reason why you hear more mainstream state Dems calling for a settlement as well.
To be clear, it isn’t because of any great love for Ellison, the upstart movie producer who, with the help of billionaire father Larry Ellison’s bank account, has been gobbling up ever-larger media giants for the past three years.Rather, it’s pure self-interest — survival, actually.These execs see the writing on the wall: cord cutting is eating away at profits and revenues from cable bundles.
People go to the movies less — far less — and streaming services are a tough business, too.Meanwhile, Big Tech is looming with troves of cash amassed from gadgets, social networks and search engines to fuel expansion into entertainment.In other words, media and entertainment need to consolidate because their survival is in danger — that is, unless you want Amazon, Apple or tech-heavy streaming giant Netflix owning the entire viewing world (how’s that for antitrust).The fa...