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….
