A coalition of a dozen states, including Nevada, could be ordered to secure a nearly $2 billion bond while they fight the Paramount Skydance Corp.’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in court.
Paramount attorneys last month filed a motion requesting a court-mandated $1.88 billion bond from plaintiffs, arguing that the company would incur substantial losses with a delay, since the trial is not slated to start until next year.
The Department of Justice on Tuesday supported Paramount’s motion with its own filing. The federal court in California overseeing the case hadn’t responded to the request as of Wednesday.
Led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the 12-state coalition and the Writers Guild of America West filed an antitrust lawsuit over the summer in an attempt to stop the $110 billion mega-merger between the media companies.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford added the state to the lawsuit.
“This merger threatens to reduce choices, drive up costs and diminish the variety of movies and television programming available to families,” Ford wrote in a July statement. “Nevadans deserve a marketplace where companies are incentivized to compete to deliver diverse entertainment, competitive prices and more innovation.”
It wasn’t clear how the states would split the cost of the bond if the court were to grant the motion. Ford’s office, Paramount and the DOJ did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Paramount attorneys wrote last month that it’s legally entitled to have the plaintiffs post a bond, a claim echoed by the DOJ. Bonds can be requested in civil cases to protect a defendant — Paramount Skydance Corp. in this case — from suffering financial harm from a wrongfully issued injunction.
The company had expected to close the deal with Warner Bros. Discovery in the third quarter of 2026. As a result, Paramount pledged to compensate affected parties if it wasn’t completed by the end of this month.
“Each day that passes after September 30th without the merger closing, Paramount must pay roughly $7 million in ‘ticking fees’ to Warner Bros. stockholders and yet more fees to its financing sources for maintaining their commitments, and it is forestalled from realizing technology and marketing synergies, among many other transaction benefits,” Paramount’s filing said.
In total, Paramount estimated that fees would total about $1.3 billion by the time the trial concludes, the company said. Even if Paramount ultimately prevails, those funds would be “unrecoverable.”
“(The) delay also threatens to nullify the regulatory approvals that Defendants have already spent months securing,” Paramount attorneys wrote. “If the transaction remains unclosed by the end of trial, Defendants will have to take additional steps to obtain regulatory approval, once again at substantial expense.”
Paramount and Warner Bros. reached an agreement to merge on Feb. 27. The DOJ closed its antitrust investigation in June, and the plaintiffs sued the following month.
The DOJ noted in court that a law-mandated federal review found that the deal was unlikely to create a monopoly for video-on-demand, television, studio development, production or distribution of theatrical movie releases, or harm consumers.
Critics have highlighted Paramount CEO David Ellison and his family’s close ties to President Donald Trump.
“Something happened and perhaps that something had to do with a mega-billionaire named Ellison,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told reporters during the summer. “We are seeing more and more instances where the Trump DOJ is just rolling over for corporate consolidation,” she added.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
