$110B PARAMOUNT-WBD MERGER HEADS TO SETTLEMENT TABLE OCT. 14

🚨 A $7 million per day ticking fee is now running on Paramount's $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

TheWrap reports that Paramount, California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office and the Writers' Guild of America will hold settlement talks on Oct. 14 and 15, per a new court filing. Bonta, 11 other state attorneys general and the union are suing to block the deal, with an antitrust trial slated for March.

Final attendee lists are due Oct. 12. Lead trial counsel must show up. Paramount and the WGA must bring people with full authority to settle, excluding Paramount's board. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson oversees it.

The gap is the shape of the fix. Bonta wants structural remedies like divestitures. Paramount has offered behavioral ones, including a pledge to release 30 films in theaters a year. Bonta has told TheWrap he'd be open to carving out a significant portion of the combined company's 50 basic cable channels.

📉 Paramount has asked the states and WGA to post a $1.9 billion bond to cover the ticking fee and financing costs during the delay. A judge rules Sept. 24. Closing is delayed until five days after a trial outcome, or June 1, 2027, whichever is earliest.

If the deal never closes over regulatory matters, Paramount owes WBD a $7 billion termination fee.

The jobs math is loud on both sides. The LA Economic Development Corporation estimates a Paramount exit from California could cost up to $21.2 billion in annual economic output and 57,980 full-time jobs. A separate LA County analysis estimates the merger closing could put 4,500 local TV and film jobs at risk over three years.

Bonta's office says the talks are "standard course" and do not indicate a settlement is in progress.

Should California force divestitures, or take the deal and the jobs?

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