Rob Bonta, stop toying with California jobs – Latest News
The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger shouldn’t be more durable to resolve than the Middle East battle. Yet California Attorney General Rob Bonta pulled out of talks on the final minute on Monday.
Somehow, President Donald Trump is keen to sit down down with the ayatollahs, who need to kill him and to destroy America, however Bonta gained’t sit down with firms that make use of hundreds of fellow Californians.
Bonta’s excuse? That Paramount supposedly leaked particulars of what had been mentioned at a earlier assembly. The lawyer normal declined to say what, precisely, Paramount had leaked.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks during a press convention on August 18, 2026, on the Elihu M. Harris State Office building in Oakland. REUTERS
And why wouldn’t a publicly-traded company inform its buyers, and the public, what it had been discussing with a state that’s suing it beneath antitrust legal guidelines?
It all appears to be like extremely petty, particularly as a result of Paramount is threatening to go away the state if Bonta gained’t come to phrases.
That’s a credible menace, as a result of California has been making life powerful for the movie industry, amongst different industries, and isn’t offering tax incentives high enough to compete with different states.
An aerial view of the Warner Bros. emblem at Warner Bros. Studio on July 13, 2026, in Burbank. Getty Images
The markets appeared comfortable with Bonta’s choice to stroll away. Paramount’s shares on the NASDAQ jumped 1.45% on Monday, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock price rose 0.53%. That’s not as a result of the markets don’t need a merger. It’s as a result of the markets suppose Bonta’s case is each weak and short-sighted.
Recall that Bonta joined different Democrats in opposing the Spirit-JetBlue airline merger, bringing California into an antitrust case with a number of “blue” states and the Biden Department of Justice. They argued that the merger could be dangerous for competitors.
An aerial view of the Paramount emblem on the water tower at Paramount Studios on February 23, 2026, in Los Angeles. Getty Images
But after courts blocked the merger, Spirit collapsed, taking a main finances service offline and hurting shoppers’ capability to search out cheaper, no-frills alternate options to the large airways.
A report by LA County claimed that the merger will value the world 4,500 TV and movie jobs. What the county failed to think about was the quantity of jobs that can be misplaced if the merger doesn’t undergo, and the even larger quantity that can be misplaced if Paramount merely leaves. The determine is probably going within the tens of hundreds.
These are massive stakes for Hollywood and for the complete economic system that it helps. These are essential jobs that shouldn’t be pawns in Rob Bonta’s political video games.
Sitting down to speak with Paramount was the best transfer. Walking away from talks was the improper transfer. We need management from Bonta — earlier than it’s too late.
