Paramount's California exit threat carries multibillion-dollar price tag, leaked report says
Paramount Skydance says it may move out of California if state lawyers block its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, and a leaked economic report now puts a number on that threat.
The report, from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, estimates California would lose 2,750 to 5,550 job-years across all industries between 1 October 2026 and 30 September 2031 if the studio shifts its headquarters and other operations elsewhere. A job-year means one year of full-time work for one person. Lost economic output over the same five years is put at $1.01 billion to $2.03 billion, according to details reported by Variety.
The warning came from Chairman and Chief Executive David Ellison. He told California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of other state attorneys general that he would start moving the company out of California unless they settle their antitrust lawsuit, meaning a legal challenge that the deal would harm competition, to stop the $111 billion Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. merger. The deadline is 1 October.
Georgia, Texas and Tennessee are being considered as possible new bases outside California. Ellison leads Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, formed when Skydance Media and Paramount Global completed their merger. Its corporate headquarters is in Santa Monica, California.
Money adds pressure to the date. Paramount Skydance must start paying a ticking fee, meaning a daily payment to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders until the deal closes, of $7 million per day from 1 October. Without a settlement, that bill would reach about $1.3 billion before the antitrust trial, which is scheduled to start on 2 March.
Talks have already soured. Bonta cancelled a settlement meeting scheduled for 24 August, accusing the Paramount camp of leaking details of their discussions. Bonta had earlier told a POLITICO summit that the company was trying to “blackmail” the state by threatening to leave, after Politico first reported the warning on 11 August.
The long-range figures in the leaked report are much larger. Once a full relocation was complete, California would face a permanent loss of about 28,990 to 57,980 full-time jobs statewide across all industries. Annual lost economic output at that point is estimated at $10.6 billion to $21.2 billion.
A separate county review points the same way on jobs. Los Angeles County released a final 120-day report on the potential labour and economic effects of the acquisition, and an analysis linked to that review estimated a loss of nearly 2,500 jobs in Los Angeles County alone from the merger, as reported by Al Jazeera. Paramount Skydance has also planned wider cuts, including around 2,000 US jobs from the week of 27 October as part of a $2 billion cost-saving effort, according to Reuters.
For crews, writers’ rooms and office staff, this is about where work happens. A headquarters move decides where shows are commissioned, where production teams are hired and where hundreds of support jobs sit. That story either stays in California or it does not.
