Paramount Skydance Demands $1.88 Billion Bond from States and WGA Fighting Its Warner Bros. Discovery Merger

Paramount Skydance is not backing down. In a court filing on September 8, 2026, the company reiterated its demand that 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America post a $1.88 billion bond — a security deposit, in effect — to cover losses the company says it will suffer while antitrust lawsuits block its planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The legal fight turns on a straightforward question: who pays if the delay turns out to be unnecessary? Paramount argues that the Clayton Act and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c) require plaintiffs in injunction cases to post a bond that compensates the defendant if the injunction is later found to have been wrongly granted. In other words, if the states and the WGA lose, Paramount wants them to cover the bill for every day the merger sat in limbo.

That bill is mounting. Paramount agreed to pay Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders a "ticking fee" of $7 million per day starting October 1, 2026, until the deal closes. The company also agreed to delay the acquisition to as late as June 2027 while the case heads to trial, with a trial start date of March 2, 2027, set by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, who is hearing the case (Variety).

The plaintiffs are pushing back hard. In an August 31 filing, the coalition of states — led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta — argued that Paramount's potential financial losses are of its own making. The California attorney general's office previously rejected the bond request outright, calling it a "do-over" (Variety). Paramount first filed the bond motion on August 17.

The case has drawn in voices well beyond the courtroom. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass urged Bonta to enter settlement talks, framing her appeal with the words "This Is Not About Taking Sides" (Variety). The WGA shot back, accusing Bass of joining Paramount's camp.

What gives the political pressure its edge is the jobs picture. A report commissioned by L.A. County found that the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger would cost 4,500 production jobs over three years (Variety). For crews, writers' rooms and the vendors that orbit productions across Southern California, the merger is not abstract. It is a question of whether the next season gets made.

Judge Martinez-Olguin will consider Paramount's bond request at a hearing scheduled for September 24. Paramount originally filed the motion on August 17, and the $1.88 billion figure has not changed since (Variety).

The merger itself remains on hold by agreement. Paramount has committed to waiting until the trial concludes before closing the deal — but the ticking fee starts in October whether the court says yes to the bond or not.