Newsom Weighs In on Paramount Merger Standoff as Settlement Talks Accelerate
California Governor Gavin Newsom has confirmed that settlement talks are happening "in real time" between Paramount and the coalition of state attorneys general suing to block its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, as the outgoing governor publicly urged the studio not to make good on a threat to leave the state.
Newsom told Deadline that he takes seriously Paramount CEO David Ellison's warning that the company could relocate to Tennessee, Texas or Georgia if the antitrust suit is not settled. But he said he hopes Paramount stays in California and believes a move would not serve the company's long-term interest. "There's a lot of conversation, many meetings," Newsom said, describing the pace of the settlement discussions.
According to Deadline's reporting, Paramount representatives and state attorneys general offices were said to be meeting face to face on Monday.
The antitrust suit — brought by a coalition of state attorneys general — seeks to block Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on competition grounds. A trial has been set for 2 March in federal court in Oakland. The clock is ticking in more ways than one: Paramount will begin accruing "ticking fees" of $7 million per day owed to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders until the merger deal closes, as Variety reported on 11 August. Paramount was also seeking a court order for a $1.88 billion bond in the case.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has called Paramount's threats to leave California "blackmail." His office did not respond to Deadline's request for comment on Newsom's remarks about the settlement talks. Paramount also declined to comment on the governor's statements.
The standoff places two of California's most powerful elected officials on different sides of the tone, if not the substance. Newsom is urging restraint and dialogue. Bonta has framed the relocation threat as coercion. Both are Democrats. Both hold office in a state that has been the global capital of film and television production for a century.
For the thousands of crew members, writers and production staff whose livelihoods are tied to Paramount's California operations, the stakes are concrete. A relocation would not move a single soundstage overnight, but it would shift where future projects are commissioned and where jobs are posted. Ellison's threat — naming three states with growing production infrastructures and tax incentive programmes — is the kind of leverage that gets attention precisely because it is plausible.
Whether the settlement talks produce an agreement before the March trial, or whether the ticking fees and legal costs push Paramount toward a concession, is not yet known. What is clear is that the conversations are no longer happening quietly behind closed doors. The governor of California has put his name on them.
