https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/paramount-warner-brothers-california-exit-threat-economy-1236699278/
Nearly 58,000 jobs and $21 billion in annual losses are on the line as the Oct. 1 merger deadline approaches.
As the legal battle over the $110 billion Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery merger drags on, a coalition of state attorneys general is fighting to block the sale on antitrust grounds — and the buyer is threatening to leave California if the lawsuit succeeds. A leaked report now puts a number on the fallout: As many as 58,000 lost jobs and up to $21 billion a year in losses for California.
The report — from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation’s Institute for Applied Economics, commissioned by Paramount itself — was leaked Saturday by Politico and lays out grim numbers for the motion picture industry. Leadership at Paramount-Skydance is negotiating with the gaggle of AGs, led by California’s Rob Bonta, and racing against an Oct. 1 deadline: If the merger hasn’t closed by then, the deal’s “ticking fee” kicks in, paying Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders $7 million a day. Paramount’s threat to relocate the studio to Georgia, Tennessee or Texas has been one of its central negotiating tactics — and has drawn uproar across the industry.