Paramount says CNN sale 'on the table' to resolve California suit over Warner Bros deal
PSKY•Paramount says all options are being considered
Paramount Skydance PSKY.O is keeping all options, including a possible sale of CNN, "on the table" to resolve California's antitrust suit challenging its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O, the company's chief legal officer said.
Speaking at Politico's California Agenda conference on Tuesday, Makan Delrahim also became the first Paramount executive to publicly acknowledge the Los Angeles-based company may leave California, after recent media reports cited unnamed sources about a potential relocation.
Here are some more details:
- Asked whether Paramount might quit the state, Delrahim said there is "a point at which where you have a duty, a fiduciary duty to your shareholders, and those are the factors you consider."
- Referring to California's likely next governor, former U.S. health secretary Xavier Becerra, he said, "If I was governor, I wouldn't want to lose Hollywood from the state. I wouldn't want to lose a major company like Paramount to another state."
- The exchange came days after Britain cleared the takeover, extracting five-year guarantees on programming and editorial independence for Channel 5 news from CNN International and CBS News.
- That UK approval left the California-led litigation as the deal's last major regulatory obstacle, following clearances from U.S. federal regulators, China and other jurisdictions.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general are seeking to block the merger, arguing it would create a "media behemoth" able to raise prices and reduce competition in film and television markets.
- The states have dismissed Paramount's pledge to release 30 films a year as unenforceable and said the company would still be in a position to raise prices and decrease quality after the merger even if it stuck to that promise.
