California AG Halts Paramount Talks Over $111 Billion Warner Bros. Deal

Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, terminated planned settlement negotiations with Paramount, citing the studio’s alleged misrepresentation of a Friday meeting and leakage of discussion details. Bonta heads a twelve-state coalition seeking to block David Ellison’s $111 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, warning that the merger would grant excessive control over cable television and movie production.

The cancelled talks were seen as a possible path to resolve the case, especially after Paramount threatened to exit California. Bonta insists any agreement must include structural remedies, likely involving asset sales, which Paramount may resist. Pressure mounts as an antitrust trial is scheduled for March, and Paramount will incur a “ticking fee” of roughly $7 million per day starting Oct. 1 if the transaction does not close.