Paramount Pictures and California AG Begin Preliminary Talks Ahead of October Settlement Conference
On 18 September, Paramount Pictures and California Attorney General Rob Bonta began preliminary, agenda-setting talks in Los Angeles as the court-ordered settlement conference scheduled for 14-15 October approached, according to Deadline. Earlier, Variety reported that Paramount Skydance and AG Bonta were in confidential, advanced negotiations to resolve the 12-state antitrust lawsuit. Deadline noted that Bonta defended the state's challenge and said any decision by Paramount to leave California would be the company's own. Fox Business quoted Bonta as saying the state would enforce the law while rumors circulated about a possible move of some operations to Nashville. The Hollywood Reporter recorded Bonta’s statement that the threat to exit would not change the antitrust case, and Mayor Karen Bass urged officials to keep the studio in California. Fox Business later said Paramount’s relocation plans remained uncertain. The Los Angeles Times reported that the parties would meet on 14-15 October for a settlement conference, while the Justice Department filed a motion seeking a $1.
88 billion bond from the states. Earlier reports from the Los Angeles Times and local economic development bodies estimated that a Paramount relocation could eliminate up to 58,000 jobs and reduce state output by as much as $21 billion annually. The A. V. Club noted Paramount’s argument that the lawsuit mischaracterizes the merger’s purpose. Deadline also reported that a federal judge scheduled the two-day settlement conference for 14-15 October and that the Supreme Court gave the states two weeks to respond to the challenge. Finally, Deadline earlier said Paramount had asked the court to require a $2 billion bond from the states contesting the merger.
