Leave it to a collection of short-sighted Democrats to stymie a merger meant to keep jobs in Hollywood, but common sense seems to have erupted in the unlikely person of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra.
Here's the deal, which the Dems are now going to war with one another over.
Paramount Skydance owns old-school Hollywood movie studio Paramount Pictures and too many TV networks to count, but the collection includes big names like CBS and Showtime. CEO David Ellison isn't just a political ally of President Donald Trump, but last year he also hired Bari Weiss — who leans left but manages much closer to the center — to clear the rot at CBS News.
So you can see why the usual wearers of wadded panties got their panties further wadded when Ellison outbid Woke Netflix earlier this year in the battle to buy struggling Warner Bros.
Egads, what will happen to our pals at CNN like Jake Tapper with Ellison and Weiss in charge???
I for one have been positively dying to find out, and by "dying," I mean I hoist a glass and take an impressive sip each time I ponder the question.
It probably comes as no surprise that the Trump administration's Department of Justice Antitrust Division approved the deal, and everyone at Paramount Skydance and Warner breathed a sigh of relief when the European Union's Permanent Under-Commissar for Sticking it to American Entertainment Companies signed off, too.
But then aforementioned collection of short-sighted Democrats had to raise a legal stink of their own, even though kiboshing the merger could cost Los Angeles tens of thousands of entertainment production jobs — on top of the untold thousands the city has already lost.
Led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D-Naturally), California and a motley group of 11 other Democrat AGs filed an antitrust suit of their own to scuttle the buyout. The other states are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington. And did I mention they're all Democrats? And that Ellison — son of billionaire Oracle guru Larry Ellison — is a MAGA guy?
Of course I did.
But here's the thing. Becerra wants to be California's next governor, with the winner taking office in January. If Bonta & Co. manage to sink or even significantly delay the merger, Ellison promises hell to pay. "Earlier this week," Breitbart's John Nolte reported Wednesday, "Ellison threatened to move the studio out of state beginning on October 1 (about six weeks!)" if Bonta won't sit down and negotiate mutually acceptable terms to get the merger done.
Did I mention Bonta & Co. have so far refused to even talk with Ellison?
More, courtesy of AdWeek:
All this is happening as a trial date of March 2, 2027, was set by Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín. Paramount was hoping for a trial date that would take place this year, preferably in November, but with this news and how far out the trial has been set, the media conglomerate will incur around $650 million in ticking fees per quarter starting Oct. 1 until the deal is finalized.
It's not business — it's personal, to twist a famous line from The Godfather.
If Ellison packs his 50,000 jobs and takes them out of California, the mess will land on Becerra's lap, assuming he wins in November.
SPOILER: Becerra leads GOP nominee Steve Hilton by 18 points in the latest poll. Barring a miracle, he will be the next governor.
"The thing is, Ellison will do it," Nolte warned. "He will move. He’s not bluffing. His dad did it. In 2020, Larry Ellison decided he’d had enough of California and relocated his $500 billion company, Oracle, to Texas."
And whatever his faults, Becerra likely doesn't want to be known as the governor who lost Hollywood. That's why he just told Politico, “I hope it settles before court. It is easier to stand in a conference room and settle than it is to stand in a courtroom."
“I say that having had to stand both in the conference room and in the courtroom," he added. "You get way more done in the conference room than you do in the courtroom.”
Becerra just signaled at Bonta with a squint like Clint's to stop ghosting Ellison and hammer out an agreement.
And as it turns out, Becerra isn't the only one suddenly coming to their senses:
NEWS: The DGA and IATSE — two powerful showbiz unions — have sent a letter to CA AG Rob Bonta and Paramount CEO David Ellison urging them to settle the states’ suit seeking to block the company’s merger w/ WBD. It comes a day after CA gubernatorial hopeful Xavier Becerra said the… pic.twitter.com/rVD24nUbSv
— Daniel Miller (@DanielNMiller) August 12, 2026
Make no mistake: Even though that letter is addressed to both Ellison and Bonta, the message is for Bonta's eyes only. He's the one threatening DGA and IATSE with massive job losses.
I don't know how this plays out, but watching Democrats duke it out against one another over the scraps of once-great Hollywood is better than anything you'll see on Netflix.
Recommended: The Dems' Great White Hope Just Got Humiliated in Michigan
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