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Bass urges settlement
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass changed her tone on the proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, urging Paramount Skydance and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to come to a quick settlement on the antitrust lawsuit from 12 state regulators challenging the transaction.
““It is time for all parties to come to the table.”
In a news conference Thursday, Bass said, “It is time for all parties to come to the table,” and she warned that “Too many productions are at a standstill, which means Angelenos are out of a job and they’re not getting paid.”
NBC Los Angeles reported that a final county report from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and L.A. County Film Office estimates about 4,500 direct film and television jobs could be lost over three years if the companies combine operations.
The same county report estimated 10,360 job-years could be at risk, including 2,661 indirect jobs at small businesses and 3,204 jobs supported by production spending in the broader economy.
Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel said the merger is intended to create “synergies -- $6 billion worth of synergies, according to Paramounnt, which is a code word for layoffs,” as Bass met with leaders of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Thursday morning.
Unions and critics split
Bass’s call for a settlement drew a sharp rebuke from WGA West, which said it was “disappointed that Mayor Bass has chosen to join Paramount’s pressure campaign on public enforcers to push through a merger” the union described as illegal and likely to lead to job losses.
WGA West added that “Her statement comes on the heels of a county report estimating thousands of jobs will be lost if the merger proceeds,” tying its criticism directly to the county analysis.
The Intercept described a newly created mystery nonprofit, Neighbors for Strong Communities, that sent text messages urging Californians to pressure Rob Bonta in support of the merger, while the group denied it was an “astroturf” front group.
Rashad Robinson, co-chair of the Committee for the First Amendment, said in a statement, “The behavior we’re seeing is what powerful corporations do when they are losing control of the story,” and he argued the public should understand what’s at stake.
The Intercept reported that Warner Bros. Discovery denied funding the text message campaign, while Paramount Skydance did not respond to a request for comment.
Jobs, wages, and tax stakes
The county report cited in NBC Los Angeles estimated $1.26 billion in wages and $2.78 billion in economic value could be at risk, alongside $4.06 billion in total business output and $547 million in tax revenue.
“$1.26 billion in wages, $2.78 billion in economic value”
NBC Los Angeles also reported that the tax figure includes $78.6 million in local tax revenue, and it said the analysis was not a layoff forecast because the companies had not announced job cuts on the scale modeled in the report.
The report described a workforce response plan that would use Los Angeles County’s 18 America's Job Centers of California and other workforce programs to assist potentially displaced workers, including job fairs and expedited access to unemployment insurance.
The Intercept framed the broader political fight as one focused on jobs, noting that Neighbors for Strong Communities text messages asked recipients to send Bonta messages raising the concern that his opposition will cost the state thousands of jobs.
In the legal timeline, NBC Los Angeles said under a court stipulation entered July 24, the companies cannot close the transaction until the earlier of five days after a decision on the merits of the lawsuit or June 1, 2027, with a trial scheduled for March 2027.