California Democrats in Congress are pressing state Attorney General Rob Bonta to scrutinize Paramount Skydance's proposed $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, warning that the deal could hurt workers and consumers. Rep. Laura Friedman and 33 other members of Congress sent Bonta a letter on Thursday asking him to examine the antitrust risks in David Ellison's bid.
"We remain concerned that the proposed merger could harm California workers and consumers," the lawmakers wrote, adding that they "respectfully urge you to closely analyze the potential effects of this merger, and, if you determine that this merger would have anticompetitive effects, use your best judgment to pursue the appropriate course of action."
The appeal lands as the transaction moves ahead. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Paramount transaction, which would pay them $31 a share and combine Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures under one roof. It would also fold HBO Max, Discovery+ and Paramount+ into the same company, alongside more than two dozen cable channels and news assets including CBS News and.
Paramount says the combination would produce at least $6 billion in cost savings, a figure that has fueled criticism from labor and antitrust advocates who fear layoffs. More than 4,000 entertainment industry workers signed an open letter calling for the deal to be blocked, and last month Writers Guild of America West President Michele Mulroney argued at a press briefing that merger after merger had left fewer companies controlling what writers could get paid to write. That concern has also surfaced in coverage of Paramount's streaming and studio plans, including a recent relaunch of Pluto TV on Paramount Plus and the network's Watson finale landing on Paramount+ after cancellation.
The proposed takeover has been described as the largest Hollywood merger in nearly a decade, and it comes with an added political complication: several U.S. senators, including Cory Booker, have raised alarms about plans to bring sovereign wealth funds tied to the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi into the deal as minority investors. Those Middle Eastern investors would hold a nearly 50% equity stake in the new company, though Paramount has said they would not get board seats.
Bonta has previously said his office is reviewing the combination to determine whether it would harm consumers and competition, and a spokesperson said Thursday that there was still "an active investigation." He is already involved in a separate antitrust case against Nexstar Media Group, where a federal judge in Sacramento issued a temporary injunction to freeze the merger until trial while Irving, Texas-based Nexstar appeals. That parallel fight gives California's top prosecutor a direct role in deciding how far the state will go in challenging consolidation across the media business, and it leaves the Paramount deal facing a sharper legal test even after shareholder approval.
