LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Mayor Karen Bass Thursday called on California Attorney General Rob Bonta and media mogul David Ellison to resolve a lawsuit that seeks to block a pending $110 billion merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, warning of potential economic loss for the city from protected litigation.
During a news conference at City Hall Thursday, Bass joined a chorus of Democratic elected officials like Gov. Gavin Newsom, who have expressed support for quickly reaching a settlement in the antitrust lawsuit being led by Bonta.
“While there are varying perspectives on the proposed transaction, today we are united around one clear message: It is time for all parties to come to the table,” Bass said in her remarks. “The continued uncertainty is not good for workers, not good for productions and not good for the future of this industry.”
She explained there are “too many productions” in L.A. that are now at standstill, meaning some Los Angeles residents are not working and not getting paid. But she said settlement talks should include protections for workers — amid fears of possibly extensive layoffs the merger might entail.
“Any resolution must put workers and the long-term health of our entertainment industry at the center. It must include meaningful and enforceable commitments to keep Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery in L.A., as well as maintaining jobs, productions and investments in L.A. and California,” Bass said.
Malakhi Simmons, vice president of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 728, joined Bass for the announcement, and similarly called for the lawsuit to be resolved.
City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who is challenging Bass in the Nov. 3 election, had a different perspective. In a statement, Raman said L.A.’s film industry is already in crisis and the merger would only make it worse.
“This is a bad deal for entertainment workers and a bad deal for Los Angeles,” Raman said in her statement. “That’s why I support Attorney General Rob Bonta’s antitrust lawsuit and stand with the workers fighting this merger.”
“Paramount’s threat to leave California unless the lawsuit is dropped is an attempt to strong-arm our state. Serious questions about this merger’s legality should be decided in court, not through corporate threats,” Raman concluded in her statement.
The Writers Guild of America was also quick to criticize Bass for calling for a settlement. WGA has partnered with Bonta and 11 other states to challenge the merger.
“We are disappointed that Mayor Bass has chosen to join Paramount’s pressure campaign on public enforcers, to push through a merger that is being rightfully challenged as illegal and will lead to job losses in the entertainment industry,” WGA said in a statement to Deadline Hollywood. “Her statement comes on the heels of a county report estimating thousands of jobs will be lost if the merger proceeds.”
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and L.A. County Film Office released its final report that estimated potential impacts of the merger.
County officials reported the merger could put about 4,500 film and television jobs in the Greater Los Angeles Area at risk over three years and threaten billions of dollars in regional economic activity. The report estimates a total of 10,360 job-years could be at risk, including direct film and television jobs and employment supported by production spending.
A job-year is the equivalent of one full-time job lasting one year, according to the report.
In addition to the possible loss of 4,500 direct film and television jobs, another 2,661 indirect jobs at small businesses that support production, including prop houses, printers, transportation companies and other vendors, could be at risk, along with 3,204 jobs supported by production spending in the broader economy, according to the report.
County officials stressed that the figures are not layoff forecasts and that the companies have not announced job cuts on the scale modeled in the report. The estimates represent potential employment effects if the transaction closes and consolidation proceeds along the pathways examined by the analysis.
The report estimates that $1.26 billion in wages, $2.78 billion in economic value, $4.06 billion in total business output and $547 million in tax revenue could be at risk. The tax figure includes $78.6 million in local tax revenue.
The report was prepared by CVL Economics in response to a March 17 motion introduced by L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and approved by the Board of Supervisors.
“Industry workers deserves a mayor who believes in upholding the law and protecting the working people of Los Angeles, not serving the interests of powerful corporations,” WGA told Deadline Hollywood. “Paramount has created a false choice for entertainment industry workers: The company argues that enforcing antitrust law hurts us by creating uncertainty, which is of their own making as the company attempts to dominate the industry.”
“We reject the claim that beleaguered industry workers must choose the possibility of a job today, in exchange for the certainty of job losses tomorrow,” WGA’s statement added.
The U.S. Department of Justice closed its review and approved the proposed merger June 12, but Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking to block the deal on antitrust grounds.
Under a court stipulation entered July 24, the companies cannot close the transaction until the earlier of five days after a decision on the merits of the lawsuit or June 1, 2027, according to the county report. A trial is scheduled for March 2027.
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