Paramount demands $1.9 billion from states, citing Warner deal delays

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Set us as preferred David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has asked a judge to force California Atty.Gen.

Rob Bonta and his coalition of 11 other states to prepare to set aside as much as $1.9 billion as the Warner Bros.Discovery merger challenge heads into overtime.In Monday’s court filing, Paramount requested the plaintiff states, including New York, Colorado, Oregon and Nevada, as well as the Writers Guild of America, post a bond that would cover the “ticking fees” Paramount promised to pay Warner shareholders should the deal stretch beyond its anticipated September close.

Ellison was confident his proposed Warner takeover would sail through its regulatory clearances.President Trump’s Justice Department approved the merger in June, as have dozens of other countries.

The states would not be required to pay the full $1.9 billion upfront.Instead, they would have to come up with a portion of that amount by Sept.

30.Should the Democrat state attorneys general and WGA lose their lawsuits, they would ultimately have to pay the full amount.Monday’s court filing highlights Ellison’s frustrations and the financial pressures that deal delays will bring the media company.

The filing also continues Paramount’s full-court political pressure campaign to get Bonta and the other states to abandon their antitrust lawsuit.Paramount did not expect such a spirited challenge from Bonta and the 11 other Democratic state attorneys general who banded together with the WGA to try to block the $111-billion merger of two historic Hollywood studios.Paramount’s 23-page filing, signed by former high profile federal prosecutor Danielle Sassoon, was intended to rattle the states.

Paramount is trying to create divisions among the plaintiff states by prompting them to question their resolve in fighting a protracted and potentially expensive legal battle, according to a person familiar with Paramount’s strategy who w...