California Democrats in Congress on Thursday urged state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to scrutinize Paramount Skydance's proposed $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, warning that the deal could harm workers and consumers. Rep. Laura Friedman and 33 other lawmakers asked Bonta to examine the antitrust risks in David Ellison's bid and, if he finds anticompetitive effects, to use his judgment to take the appropriate next step.
The letter lands as Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders have already voted overwhelmingly in favor of the transaction, which would pay them $31 a share. The deal would bring together Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, HBO Max, Discovery+, Paramount+, more than two dozen cable channels, CBS News and, while Paramount says the combination would generate at least $6 billion in cost savings.
Friedman and the other lawmakers wrote that they remain concerned the merger could harm California workers and consumers, echoing criticism that has built for weeks from entertainment workers and union leaders. More than 4,000 people in the industry signed an open letter calling for the deal to be blocked, and last month Writers Guild of America West President Michele Mulroney said merger after merger has left fewer companies controlling what writers can be paid to write.
Bonta told The Times that his office is reviewing the proposed combination to determine whether it would harm consumers and competition, and a spokesperson said Thursday that the investigation remains active. The attorney general has already shown a willingness to move against media consolidation: he joined a lawsuit with 13 other state attorneys general seeking to halt Nexstar Media Group's station deal, and a federal judge in Sacramento has temporarily frozen that merger pending trial.
The pressure on Bonta is also coming from Washington, where several senators, including Cory Booker, have raised concerns about sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi serving as minority investors. Those Middle Eastern funds would hold a nearly 50% equity stake in the new company, though Paramount says they would not receive board seats. The question now is whether California's top antitrust cop will treat a deal this large as a routine media merger or as a test of how far consolidation can go before regulators draw a line.