Composite story

California AG cancels Paramount-Warner settlement meeting over leak

Rob Bonta called off Monday talks on Paramount’s Warner Bros. Discovery deal, accusing the studio of leaking and misrepresenting a Friday session. Paramount denies it was the source.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta canceled a Monday meeting with Paramount over the states’ suit to block the roughly $110–111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal. He said Paramount leaked and misrepresented Friday talks. Paramount said it was not the source and still wants to talk. Bonta wants structural remedies; a March trial and October ticking fees add pressure.

Shared facts

Bonta canceled a Monday meeting with Paramount to begin settlement talks, the Times reported.

Bonta said that showed a lack of good faith.

Bonta said Paramount did not keep that meeting confidential.

Bonta said he pulled down the Monday meeting.

The leaked details were from a meeting held on Friday.

California and 11 states sued last month to block Paramount’s $110 billion WBD deal.

They appeared to be referring to a Saturday Journal story on Friday’s conversation topics.

The Journal published deal points it said Bonta would offer to drop the suit.

Bonta said Paramount leaked and misrepresented settlement discussions.

Bonta accused Paramount of playing games.

Bonta is leading 12 states asking a court to block the merger.

Bonta was also going to demand keeping Warner Bros. separate from Paramount Pictures.

Bonta said his office is happy to meet again when Paramount stops playing games.

Bonta said he prefers to resolve cases in the boardroom instead of the courtroom.

That demand would be a nonstarter for Ellison, who wants a Hollywood super-studio.

They allege the deal would lessen competition in film distribution and cable TV, harming theaters and pay-TV distributors.

Bonta said his office will meet if the other side wants a sincere good-faith effort.

Paramount has threatened to leave California.

A dozen AGs led by Bonta sued last month to block the merger.

The Times said Saturday the talks were preliminary with no assurance of a settlement.

Paramount said it shares Bonta’s concerns about public discussion and misreporting.

Paramount said it stands ready to continue good-faith talks to resolve the suit.

Newsom signaled Friday support for settlement talks in the antitrust suit.

Paramount will owe about $7 million a day starting Oct. 1 if the deal has not closed.

An antitrust trial is scheduled for March.

Paramount agreed to delay closing until as late as June 2027.

Bonta has insisted any settlement would require structural remedies, likely asset sales.

Paramount called the lawsuit a misrepresentation of competition.

Paramount argues the merger will increase competition and production output.

The New York Times first reported the Monday meeting and its cancellation.

Disputed facts

Bonta accused Paramount of leaking Friday meeting details and acting in bad faith.

Shared opinions

Bonta said Paramount is playing games.

Disputed opinions

None yet.

CNN

California AG calls off Paramount settlement talks, accuses company of ‘playing games’

Anna Cooban and Brian Stelter

24 Aug 2026

Facts

The parties were due to discuss a settlement of the lawsuit that has frozen the merger.

Warner Bros. Discovery is CNN’s parent company.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has canceled a meeting that was scheduled for Monday over Paramount’s planned $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company.

Paramount is trying to merge its movie studio and television operations with WBD, the parent of CNN, HBO, Discovery, the Warner Bros. studio and many other assets.

fact

The Writers Guild of America filed a parallel lawsuit.

Paramount says opponents are driven by political concerns, including CNN changing hands.

David Ellison has been eager to start settlement talks.

Bonta has disputed those charges.

The two sides appear far apart.

Structural remedies mean divestitures, spin-offs, and other changes to the combined company.

Selling the channels would change the deal’s financial calculus.

Opinion

Greenfield said the clock is against Paramount because of the ticking fee, March trial, and June expiration.

“Paramount may be correct on the law,” he said, and correct to believe that it will eventually win in court. But the clock is working against the company, between the October “ticking fee” start, the March trial date, and the June merger agreement expiration, he said.

attribution · Rich Greenfield

Analyst Rich Greenfield said the main question is whether Paramount will settle with structural remedies.

Greenfield said Paramount must offer film and linear-TV structural remedies to close before June.

Greenfield said Paramount may be correct on the law and may win in court.

“Paramount may be correct on the law,” he said, and correct to believe that it will eventually win in court. But the clock is working against the company, between the October “ticking fee” start, the March trial date, and the June merger agreement expiration, he said.

attribution · Rich Greenfield

Greenfield said cable networks lack a robust market and would sell for a fraction of the purchase price.

Los Angeles Times

California cancels mediation session for the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal

Meg James

24 Aug 2026

Facts

The sides set ground rules last week for a Monday meeting that was to include David Ellison.

Confidentiality of the mediation was one of the rules.

Terms included selling some cable channels because a combined company would control more than 50, including CNN, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, HGTV and MTV.

Late Sunday, the Wall Street Journal published deal points that it said Bonta was preparing to offer Paramount in exchange for dropping his lawsuit. Terms included asking the company to sell some basic cable TV channels because the merged entity would control more than 50, including CNN, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, HGTV and MTV.

fact

Over the weekend, news stories carried information about the planned summit.

Paramount accused Mark Ruffalo of injecting antisemitic tropes into his campaign against the deal.

Some advocacy groups criticized Bonta for allegedly failing to protect Hollywood’s Jewish leaders from antisemitism.

By Monday, Bonta was facing criticism among some advocacy groups for allegedly failing to protect Hollywood’s Jewish leaders from antisemitism.

By Monday, some Jewish leaders questioned Bonta’s commitment to fighting antisemitism — or protecting Hollywood’s Jewish leaders, including the Ellisons.

fact

No other talks have been scheduled.

A judge had ordered mediation in the antitrust case.

Tennessee has been wooing Paramount after Larry Ellison said he would move Oracle to Nashville.

The fight with Bonta has grown increasingly ugly after Ellison threatened to pull Paramount — a fixture on Melrose Avenue — out of California. Tennessee has been wooing Paramount after Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, announced two years ago that he would move his software behemoth Oracle to Nashville.

fact

The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the ADL came to Paramount’s defense against Ruffalo.

Leaders of prominent Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League, quickly came to Paramount’s defense, scolding the Emmy-winning actor best known for playing the Hulk and for being an outspoken political progressive.

fact

Ruffalo recirculated a two-year-old clip of Paramount board member Safra Catz.

Ruffalo had recirculated a two-year-old video clip of Safra Catz, Oracle’s former chief executive and a current Paramount board member. During an Israeli-American Council National Summit conference, she said she couldn’t discuss Oracle’s work with Israel’s military, but “we have some profoundly scary technology at Oracle and we wanted to make sure that it was available” to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks led by Hamas militants.

fact

Ruffalo described the Gaza war as a genocide built on apartheid powered by Oracle.

Catz said Oracle wanted some of its technology available to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

Ruffalo had recirculated a two-year-old video clip of Safra Catz, Oracle’s former chief executive and a current Paramount board member. During an Israeli-American Council National Summit conference, she said she couldn’t discuss Oracle’s work with Israel’s military, but “we have some profoundly scary technology at Oracle and we wanted to make sure that it was available” to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks led by Hamas militants.

attribution · Safra Catz

Goldfeder asked whether Bonta heard that before he sued, citing a Feb. 27 post after Paramount beat Netflix.

“Did you hear that too before you sued?” Goldfeder asked Bonta — a reference to a Feb. 27 message by the state attorney general, who at the time was responding to Ruffalo’s dismay after Paramount won the bidding war for Warner Bros., besting Netflix.

In that nearly six-month-old post, Bonta wrote on X: “Mark, I hear you. I’m in conversation with my AG colleagues about Paramount/Warner Bros. As the epicenter of the entertainment industry, California has a special interest in protecting competition.”

“Attorney General Bonta told Mark Ruffalo that he hears him and said California has a ‘special interest in protecting competition’ because we are the epicenter of the entertainment industry,” Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and chief executive of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, said in a statement.

attribution · Mark Goldfeder

The judge scheduled a hearing in late September.

Bonta’s office declined to comment on the antisemitism criticism.

Opinion

Paramount said applying genocide and apartheid to a corporate deal is a bridge too far.

Mark Goldfeder suggested Bonta filed the suit doing Ruffalo’s bidding.

Mark Goldfeder, head of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, lashed out at Bonta on Sunday and suggested California’s top law enforcement official was doing Ruffalo’s bidding by filing the antitrust lawsuit against Paramount and Warner Bros.

“Your friend @MarkRuffalo said the quiet part out loud. His campaign against the Jewish Ellisons is about Israel, ‘genocide,’ and ‘apartheid,’” Goldfeder wrote in a message on X directed at Bonta.

attribution · Mark Goldfeder

Farkas said California must protect Hollywood’s people from antisemitism, not only from anticompetitive conduct.

“We agree that California has a special obligation to protect Hollywood, but not only from anticompetitive conduct. It must also protect the people who power this industry from antisemitism and every form of hate,” Farkas said.

attribution · Noah Farkas

Farkas said Bonta’s record with Jewish Californians remains mixed.

The rabbi added that Bonta’s “record with Jewish Californians remains mixed.”

“In some important moments, he has failed to stand up with the clarity and urgency our community deserved,” Farkas said. “This is why it is so important that Bonta clarify what ‘Mark, I hear you’ means. Hearing legitimate antitrust concerns cannot mean excusing rhetoric that invokes age-old tropes about Jewish wealth, media control and sinister power.”

attribution · Noah Farkas

Farkas said hearing antitrust concerns cannot excuse tropes about Jewish wealth and media control.

“In some important moments, he has failed to stand up with the clarity and urgency our community deserved,” Farkas said. “This is why it is so important that Bonta clarify what ‘Mark, I hear you’ means. Hearing legitimate antitrust concerns cannot mean excusing rhetoric that invokes age-old tropes about Jewish wealth, media control and sinister power.”

attribution · Noah Farkas

Ruffalo said criticizing Israel’s prime minister or a military tech contract is not criticizing Jewish people.

“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo wrote on X. “Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people.”

attribution · Mark Ruffalo

Ruffalo defended himself over the weekend.

Ruffalo defended himself over the weekend.

“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” Ruffalo wrote on X. “Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people.”

fact

NBC News

California attorney general cancels talks with Paramount, accuses company of leaks

Daniel Arkin

24 Aug 2026

Facts

The states say the deal would extinguish competition in wide-release films, top-grossing movies, and basic cable.

The states contend the deal violates federal antitrust law and threatens to “extinguish” economic competition in three markets: wide-release theatrical films, anticipated top-grossing movies and basic cable television distribution.

fact

Twelve state AGs and the Writers Guild sued last month to challenge the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal.

A source said Ellison threatened to leave California unless Bonta opened settlement talks.

Ellison has threatened to move Paramount out of its traditional headquarters in California unless Bonta opened settlement talks, according to a source who was in a closed-door meeting earlier this month but wasn’t authorized to speak about it on the record.

fact

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in the Northern District of California set trial for early March.

The company has agreed to freeze the merger until either the antitrust challenge is resolved or June 1, 2027 — whichever comes first. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, who is presiding over the case, scheduled an antitrust trial for early March.

fact

Paramount has DOJ clearance and approvals in more than 60 territories, including Australia, China and the EU.

That ticking fee is about $650 million a quarter.

The combined company would be led by David Ellison, 43, son of Larry Ellison.

It would include two studios, two streamers, cable channels, CBS News and CNN.

The Journal reported Newsom worried blocking the deal could harm California jobs.

The other AGs are from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.

In the antitrust challenge, California is joined by the Democratic attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.

fact

Newsom’s office said it does not comment on anonymous or unverified reporting.

Opinion

Mayor Karen Bass said continued uncertainty is not good for workers, productions, or the industry.

CNBC

California AG Rob Bonta cancels Paramount settlement meeting, citing ‘lack of good faith’

CNBC

24 Aug 2026

Facts

Bonta told CNBC last week he was ready to negotiate a settlement.

Paramount and WBD declined to comment to CNBC on Monday.

Bonta told CNBC the suit’s focus is not streaming, CNN, or foreign regulators.

Bonta and 11 other state AGs filed suit in July to block the merger, alleging that the acquisition would create a media giant that would control a sizable portion of film and basic TV programming. Bonta told CNBC last week that the focus of his lawsuit is not on streaming, CNN or foreign regulators.

attribution · Rob Bonta

Opinion

Bonta called the lawsuit a black-and-white antitrust case.

The Hollywood Reporter

California AG Calls Off Paramount-Warner Bros. Meeting, Accusing Company of “Playing Games”

Georg Szalai

24 Aug 2026

Facts

The fight could lead to Warner Bros. asset sales and more than $1 billion in ticking fees before a March trial.

A dozen AGs, led by Bonta, whose antitrust lawsuit last month seeking to block the merger has been a thorn in Ellison’s side, have spoken out against the megadeal, which could lead to the divestiture of Warner Bros. assets and cost more than $1 billion in “ticking-clock” fees ahead of a March trial, along with other potential fallout.

fact

Ellison has fought back with a media blitz, a threat to leave California, and a bid to shift ticking fees to taxpayers.

Ellison moved to make taxpayers pay the ticking-clock fees.

Opinion

The lawsuit has been a thorn in Ellison’s side.

A dozen AGs, led by Bonta, whose antitrust lawsuit last month seeking to block the merger has been a thorn in Ellison’s side, have spoken out against the megadeal, which could lead to the divestiture of Warner Bros. assets and cost more than $1 billion in “ticking-clock” fees ahead of a March trial, along with other potential fallout.

center · pluralist

Newsom said he appreciated Bonta’s preference for a boardroom settlement.

When asked about his stance on the merger and the antitrust suit from 12 states challenging it at a press appearance in San Francisco, the governor referenced remarks made by Bonta earlier last week. “Look, I was appreciative, I think this week, earlier this week, you heard the attorney general himself say he’d prefer this settled in the boardroom, not the courtroom,” Newsom said. “So I think there’s some universal sentiment there, if that’s possible. The question is if that’s possible. And what’s the best deal, what’s the landing? And that has to be worked through.”

attribution · Gavin Newsom

Variety

California Attorney General Cancels Paramount Settlement Talks Over $111 Billion Warner Bros. Discovery Deal, Says He’ll Meet When They ‘Stop Playing Games’

Elsa Keslassy

24 Aug 2026

Facts

No unique facts.

Opinion

The meeting had been seen as a possible opening after Paramount threatened to leave California.

The canceled meeting had been perceived as a possible opening toward resolving the case, particularly after Paramount threatened to leave California. Bonta has so far insisted that any settlement would require “structural remedies,” likely involving asset sales, which Paramount may resist.

center · pluralist

Paramount may resist those asset-sale remedies.

The canceled meeting had been perceived as a possible opening toward resolving the case, particularly after Paramount threatened to leave California. Bonta has so far insisted that any settlement would require “structural remedies,” likely involving asset sales, which Paramount may resist.

center · pluralist

Reuters

California cancels talks with Paramount over Warner Bros merger, NYT reports

Gnaneshwar Rajan

24 Aug 2026

Facts

Paramount and Bonta’s office did not respond to Reuters outside regular hours.

New York, Arizona and Minnesota argued the deal would raise prices and weaken worker wages.

Opinion

No opinion marked.