(KMJ) Paramount is threatening to leave California.
Reports surfaced Tuesday that say the studio’s board approved a plan to relocate to states like Texas, Tennessee, or Georgia if California Attorney General Rob Bonta doesn’t enter settlement talks by October 1st.
The dispute centers on Bonta’s antitrust challenge to Paramount’s proposed $110-billion-dollar acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount CEO David Ellison estimated that leaving the Golden State would save the studio $500 million a year in taxes.
Bonta blasted the studio’s strategy, writing on X: “In a span of weeks, Paramount agreed to halt the merger until a court decision or until June 2027, asked for a November trial, and is now back with another attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through. Paramount has lost the plot as it continues to lose in court.”
