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David Ellison: Me, Move? I Love L.A.
Confirmed
In Short: David Ellison's $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery faces legal challenges and public opposition.
David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, is facing backlash over his $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, with critics urging California Attorney General Rob Bonta not to settle the deal.
Ellison recently stated that the settlement with the 12 states would allow Paramount to build a stronger Hollywood, but critics argue that the deal should not be approved.
The settlement, which includes minor concessions, has been criticized by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), who wrote that Paramount, run by the Ellisons, should not own both CBS and CNN.
Ellison has threatened to move Paramount's headquarters out of California if the deal is not finalized by September, with Paramount's board approving a contingency plan to relocate as early as this fall.
The deal would allow the Ellison family to indirectly hold a stake in excess of 25% in Paramount, with no other equity participant having any governance rights.
Critics argue that Ellison's threat to move Paramount out of California is empty and that the AG should not give in to it.
Ellison has pledged to keep the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. operations in California, but his threats to move the company have intensified opposition to the deal.
John Oliver, host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, took a dig at Ellison, noting that having access to wealthy parents should not be the system to get badly-needed healthcare.
Ellison's company would also own HBO, which airs Oliver's show, leading to further criticism of the deal.
The deal remains on hold under a court agreement, with Ellison clashing with Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general over the proposed acquisition.
What this adds
The deal's approval would allow the Ellison family to indirectly hold a stake in excess of 25% in Paramount, raising concerns about governance and control.
Ellison's threats to move Paramount out of California have been met with skepticism, with critics arguing that the threat is empty and should not be taken seriously.
What's confirmed
- David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, is facing backlash over his $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, with critics urging California Attorney General Rob Bonta not to settle the deal.
- Ellison recently stated that the settlement with the 12 states would allow Paramount to build a stronger Hollywood, but critics argue that the deal should not be approved.
- The settlement, which includes minor concessions, has been criticized by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), who wrote that Paramount, run by the Ellisons, should not own both CBS and CNN.
- Ellison has threatened to move Paramount's headquarters out of California if the deal is not finalized by September, with Paramount's board approving a contingency plan to relocate as early as this fall.
- The deal would allow the Ellison family to indirectly hold a stake in excess of 25% in Paramount, with no other equity participant having any governance rights.
- Critics argue that Ellison's threat to move Paramount out of California is empty and that the AG should not give in to it.
- Ellison has pledged to keep the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. operations in California, but his threats to move the company have intensified opposition to the deal.
- John Oliver, host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, took a dig at Ellison, noting that having access to wealthy parents should not be the system to get badly-needed healthcare.
- Ellison's company would also own HBO, which airs Oliver's show, leading to further criticism of the deal.
- The deal remains on hold under a court agreement, with Ellison clashing with Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general over the proposed acquisition.
What's still developing
- “Now that we reached and announced a settlement, we’re eager to get to work building a stronger Hollywood,” Ellison said in a statement.
- You know, Ellison and his family have deep ties to Tennessee, he could pull up stakes and move Paramount there.
- Even at the time, these hints were chalked up to a game of high-stakes chicken over the summer between Ellison and California.
- Now there’s a legal settlement in place between the 12 states and Team Ellison dictating some terms for what “Stay in L.A.” means.
- A resolution would allow David Ellison’s $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery to finalize Bonta and Ellison have made progress in the talks in recent days, according to four people familiar with the matter not authorized to speak publicly.
- “Ellison’s threat is empty, and the AG should call that out — not give into it,” the experts — Fiona Scott Morton, Gene Kimmelman and Norm Eisen — wrote in the Contrarian.
- Over the weekend, opposition intensified to a proposed settlement as details trickled out, including a proposal to establish a bipartisan editorial board to monitor cable news channel CNN, one of Warner’s premier properties that Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison would control along with CBS News.
- The two sides have discussed Paramount potentially agreeing to run Warner Bros. studio separately for some period of time, per the Wall Street Journal David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is in “advanced talks” with California Attorney General Rob Bonta to settle the 12-state antitrust suit that’s holding up its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing anonymous sources.
- David Ellison has internally told Paramount execs he’s seriously considering relocating the company’s operations — including, over a longer time horizon, its studio — out of California if Paramount is unable to close the Warner Bros. deal by the end of September.
- In a statement, Ellison said that now the state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) concerns had been addressed, "we have complete clearance for this merger and look forward to putting these commitments into action".
- The allegations came in light of the actor accusing David and Larry Ellison of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world”.
- To be clear, my views come from my own political convictions and should never be interpreted as hostility toward Jewish people, for whom I have deep love and respect.