Paramount’s M&A win seals showbiz’s Hamilton fever

Paramount Skydance has reached a settlement with a group of state attorneys general led by California which sued to block its $110 billion deal with Warner Bros Discovery, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press conference on September 21.

The settlement includes independent editorial boards for the news networks CNN and CBS and a $30 million penalty per film for falling short of Paramount’s promised 30-movies-a-year release target, Reuters reported.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that "this settlement is not a vote of support for this merger."

Settlements aimed at such finicky behavior-policing have a rough track record. Microsoft MSFT.O signed a consent decree with Uncle Sam in 1994 related to its licensing practices. The Department of Justice later sued to break up the software giant, which resulted in another consent decree. Comcast CMCSA.O made a similar handshake with regulators when it bought NBC Universal, only for Bloomberg to file a complaint citing anti-competitive conduct. Meta Platforms’ oversight board, implemented to address content grievances, seems to have done little to keep the company out of controversy.