{"id":7678,"date":"2026-08-30T11:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7678"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:08:06","slug":"california-ag-rob-bontas-political-bid-has-put-the-paramount-merger-on-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7678","title":{"rendered":"California AG Rob Bonta\u2019s political bid has put the Paramount merger on hold"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Paramount allegedly leaks stuff about antitrust talks \u00adregarding its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery \u2014 never mind that it\u2019s stuff that people already know \u2014 and this guy talks like it\u2019s a criminal offense.<\/p>\n

Read more Yankees take shot on former top Mets prospect Jarred Kelenic with career in jeopardy<\/a><\/p>\n

Actor Mark Ruffalo unleashes nonsensical and arguably bigoted attacks against Paramount\u2019s owners, the Ellison family, in a show of rabble rousing to derail the deal \u2014 and this guy talks like it\u2019s a nothingburger.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the not-so-wonderful but definitely wacky world of California Attorney General Rob Bonta.<\/p>\n

Mind you, Bonta is a guy no one ever heard of until lightning struck and he got the bright idea to lead a coterie of lefty AGs and sue to break up Paramount\u2019s $81 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery on antitrust grounds.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the state\u2019s chief legal officer, and you would think that his plate is full given the copious maladies faced by Californians: homelessness, wildfires, taxes that are driving away middle-class residents and small businesses \u2014 not to mention the billionaires they\u2019re trying to tax even more. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the matter of real and actual crime, which makes vast swaths of the state unlivable.<\/p>\n

Yet it gets worse. <\/p>\n

Aside from 1) his highfalutin notion that a state AG should stop a deal that was approved by the world (the US, EU and UK antitrust cops among the regulatory bodies); and 2) the lighter-than-air legal case he\u2019s mounting that two middling companies combined would have more pricing power than Big Tech expanding into media; there\u2019s 3) Bonta\u2019s contemptuous double standards and public posturing.<\/p>\n

I know he\u2019s running for governor someday and wants to make a name for himself, but that doesn\u2019t excuse his hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with his palling around with Ruffalo, a capable actor with some odd political views and demonstrated ignorance when it comes to the business of his chosen profession.<\/p>\n

Ruffalo has cast himself as a point man for Hollywood opposition to the deal. <\/p>\n

He has circulated petitions and prodded regulators to kill the merger on social media in a seemingly endless stream of fulminations about how the combo will destroy competition.<\/p>\n

Inspired by the celeb left<\/h2>\n

Indeed, it seems plausible that Bonta\u2019s case was inspired by Ruffalo\u2019s insipid script, as the AG claims to believe that two weak companies \u2014 both of them ravaged by debt, cord cutting, etc. \u2014 somehow will provide robust competition for the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Apple. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s as opposed to a slow walk to extinction (check their share price pre-merger talks).<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t believe me? <\/p>\n

Consider that on Feb. 27, Ruffalo called for state AGs to kill the deal after it was poised to pass every other regulatory body because \u201cthere are lots of agents in Hollywood who can tell you how past mergers and consolidations have hurt their clients and business,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Read more Michael Goodwin: Dem meltdown over Jeffries-Kushner meeting is a testament to party\u2019s radicalization<\/a><\/p>\n

Just hours later, Bonta chimed in, \u201cMark, I hear you. I\u2019m in conversation with my AG colleagues about Paramount\/Warner Bros. .\u2009.\u2009. California has a special interest in protecting competition.\u201d <\/p>\n

A few months later, Bonta filed his lawsuit demanding insane \u201cstructural\u201d changes to the deal or else.<\/p>\n

Pretty thin case, according to every antitrust lawyer I speak to. Meanwhile, \u201cHollywood agents\u201d are maybe the most myopic businesspeople on the planet, with zero insight into antitrust laws. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re always on the lookout for the next quick payday, and of course they don\u2019t like facing a more robust negotiating partner. In the long run, they don\u2019t care what happens to \u00adeither company.<\/p>\n

Again, Bonta\u2019s willful ignorance of the above can almost be forgiven. <\/p>\n

He is, after all, a craven California politician looking for free publicity and presumably a conduit to campaign contributions from lefty actors and Big Tech (the sector that benefits the most if this merger gets scrapped).<\/p>\n

What shouldn\u2019t be ignored is what Ruffalo said next \u2014 namely, his incendiary allegation that the deal will make the Ellison family stronger so it can promote Israel\u2019s \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza. <\/p>\n

True, such sentiment is commonplace on the loony left, which is always looking for oppressors while defending the oppressed, even if the latter happen to be bloodthirsty terrorists.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Ruffalo has since said he isn\u2019t a Jew hater. <\/p>\n

(His rep didn\u2019t answer a request for comment.) <\/p>\n

Still, that doesn\u2019t make connecting Larry Ellison and his son, Paramount CEO David Ellison, who are Jewish, with \u201cgenocide\u201d and \u201can apartheid system of oppression\u201d any less noxious. It also doesn\u2019t make Bonta\u2019s silence on the matter any less disgusting.<\/p>\n

Ruffalo believes the Israeli war machine is being \u201cpowered\u201d by Oracle, the company Larry founded. Israel\u2019s defense after the largest mass slaughter of Jews on Oct. 7, 2023, is both \u201coppression\u201d and \u201cgenocide.\u201d All this from the man you can guess inspired Bonta\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve asked Bonta for comment and haven\u2019t heard back. Maybe he\u2019s too busy clamping down on \u201cleaks,\u201d or spending his time on TV giving softball interviews.<\/p>\n

Either way, for all of his mouthing off, California\u2019s AG should be held most accountable for his silence.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Mamdani sparks tenant complaint crisis to \u2018squeeze\u2019 landlords and seize private property: critics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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