{"id":6684,"date":"2026-08-16T11:07:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T11:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6684"},"modified":"2026-08-16T11:07:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T11:07:53","slug":"california-ags-block-of-paramount-warner-bros-merger-could-chase-away-key-source-of-funds-for-dems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6684","title":{"rendered":"California AG’s block of Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could chase away key source of funds for Dems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The lawsuit to block Paramount Skydance\u2019s $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery could chase away a key source of funds for California\u2019s Democratic Party \u2014 namely, the deep-pocketed executives who run Big Media, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Read more Glenn Youngkin: Dem governors across the country get a failing grade for standing in the way of education freedom<\/a><\/p>\n

Most of the workers in this ecosystem \u2014 the directors, screenwriters,\u00a0 stagehands and the reporters at the companies that combine entertainment with news gathering (like Warner, Paramount, Disney and Comcast), you name it \u2014 far outnumber the honchos and are reliable Democrats. But the real money for financing campaigns \u2014 and Dem coffers on the national level as well \u2014 comes from the top.<\/p>\n

All of that could change, I am told, since California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a group of lefty AGs filed suit to break up Paramount\u2019s WBD deal. Specifically, media and entertainment moguls, \u2014\u00a0 many of them on Bonta\u2019s home turf in Hollywood \u2014 are calling for the AG\u00a0to reach a settlement with Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison, according to sources.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the reason why you hear more mainstream state Dems calling for a settlement as well. To be clear, it isn\u2019t because of any great love for Ellison, the upstart movie producer who, with the help of billionaire father Larry Ellison\u2019s bank account, has been gobbling up \u00adever-larger media giants for the past three years.<\/p>\n

Rather, it\u2019s pure self-interest \u2014 survival, actually. These execs see the writing on the wall: cord cutting is eating away at profits and revenues from cable bundles. People go to the movies less \u2014 far less \u2014 and streaming services are a tough business, too. Meanwhile, Big Tech is looming with troves of cash amassed from gadgets, social networks and search engines to fuel expansion into entertainment.<\/p>\n

In other words, media and entertainment need to consolidate because their survival is in danger \u2014 that is, unless you want Amazon, Apple or tech-heavy streaming giant Netflix owning the entire viewing world (how\u2019s that for antitrust).<\/p>\n

The fact is, combining smaller companies like Paramount and Warner is the test case for survival in a business where Big Media and Entertainment are hobbled by balance sheets impaired by debt and lack of scale.<\/p>\n

Or as one top media executive \u2014 a longtime Democrat \u2014 put it: \u201cIf this one guy [Bonta] can stop a deal like this, it\u2019s game over for the industry. Why would we support this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wary of far-left tilt<\/h2>\n

Granted, I haven\u2019t conducted a proper survey on this thesis with scientific markers and percentage-point margins of error. I did, however, put in a bunch of calls to reliable sources who know this terrain well. What they tell me is that the typical media executive isn\u2019t the DSA voter Bonta seems to be appealing to. These are people who would be comfortable with Bill (or Hillary) Clinton, and Barack Obama when he indulged the centrist side of his ID.<\/p>\n

Read more Super Squad! Radical House group could double in size \u2014 and influence \u2014 come November<\/a><\/p>\n

The sources are progressive mainly around social issues, don\u2019t mind paying some of those high taxes to live in Cali, but are growing wary of the far-left tilt of the party. The homeless situation in LA and other California cities is a factor. The inept governance of politicians like LA Mayor Karen Bass is another. On top of it all, lower-cost venues without endless homeless encampments are offering incentives to shoot movies on their turf.<\/p>\n

Yes, the insiders\u2019 biggest concerns involve economics. And now a bunch of emerging lefty Dem pols like Bonta are acting purely politically, seemingly clueless about one of the state\u2019s biggest businesses, employing some 700,000 people and producing $70 billion in tax revenues each year.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The pure- politics worry from the Hollywood C-suite comes from its legal counsel, who see no merit \u2014 like zero \u2014\u00a0 in Bonta\u2019s claim that consumers will be screwed by the merging of these companies and that by breaking up the merger,\u00a0 jobs somehow will be preserved.<\/p>\n

Without consolidation, the Warner studio faces uncertainty given its debt load and lack of scale. Ditto for Paramount unless David Ellison can convince his dad to keep feeding his ambitions because its core business is even more troubled than WBD\u2019s.<\/p>\n

They all believe Bonta wants to be governor, sees his opening in the state\u2019s progressive wing, and is \u00adusing the case to gain name recognition \u2014 and do a little Trump bashing because of Larry Ellison\u2019s friendship with the president.<\/p>\n

As they\u2019ve pointed out, the lawsuit puts Bonta and his team of recalcitrants, which includes NY AG Tish James, to the left of the European Union and the UK regulatory apparatus, some of the least deal-friendly types on the planet.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re making their voices heard. That\u2019s why you hear current California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the frontrunner to replace him, Xavier Becerra, calling for Bonta to enter settlement talks. That\u2019s why all these folks, albeit quietly, are supporting David Ellison\u2019s threat to take Paramount out of California to a place that actually wants the industry to survive, unless Bonta gets reasonable and drops his demands for spinning off vast pieces of Warner as the cost of doing a deal.<\/p>\n

The bet in Hollywood is that pressure on Bonta will prevail and there will be a settlement. Still, if you\u2019re playing Kalshi or Polymarket on this one, also remember that this isn\u2019t Clinton\u2019s or Obama\u2019s Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

Read more Mark Cuban delivers brutal reality check on California billionaire tax: \u2018Ideology is not a strategy\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hollywood execs threaten to pull Democratic funding over CA AG Rob Bonta’s lawsuit blocking the $81B Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-charles-gasparino"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia AG's block of Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could chase away key source of funds for Dems - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=6684\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California AG's block of Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could chase away key source of funds for Dems - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hollywood execs threaten to pull Democratic funding over CA AG Rob Bonta's lawsuit blocking the $81B Paramount-Warner Bros. 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