Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee to become the next governor of California, recommended that state attorneys general and Paramount reach a settlement and avoid an antitrust trial over the proposed Warner Bros. Discovery merger.<\/p>\n
Weighing in for the first time on the lawsuit, Becerra said at a Politico conference on Tuesday, \u201cI 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. You get way more done in the conference room than you do in the courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Becerra, the former secretary of health and human services during the Biden administration, served as California\u2019s attorney general from 2017 to 2021. That is the job now held by Rob Bonta, who is leading 12 state attorneys general in their lawsuit to block the transaction.<\/p>\n
Becerra did not weigh in on the merits of the state AGs\u2019 case, but said, \u201cHaving done antitrust cases, these are not easy. They\u2019re a different animal from most litigation. They are very difficult. They are very fact intensive. The law doesn\u2019t keep pace. All I know is this, in terms of what\u2019s going on in this particular case, the entertainment industry is our baby in California. We have to fight to keep it vibrant. If a merger is good, that helps that keeps it vibrant, I\u2019m willing to say, let\u2019s take a look. If that merger undermines the ability of the industry of remaining vibrant, then I\u2019m going to take \u2026 a closer look as well. At the end of the day, is it good for the entertainment community in California? Does it benefit California families to have another merger occur? And then, at the end of the day, who will settle it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about reports that Paramount CEO David Ellison has raised the prospect of the company exiting California if no settlement is reached, Becerra said, \u201cHaving a major player in the industry leave would not be good. At the same time, I said as well, \u2018Is it going to be good for working families?\u2019 Having them leave leave the state is certainly not good for working families. So let\u2019s be adults, not be kids. Conference room, not courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, Becerra\u2019s Republican rival, Steve Hilton, blasted the state AG case, calling it \u201ctotally politically motivated.\u201d He said that Bonta\u2019s arguments \u201cjust don\u2019t add up.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.<\/p>\n
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Settle or California loses more entertainment jobs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to lose the same number of jobs anyway.<\/p>\n
Because Para\u2019s never leaving CA. For what? Tennessee or Florida that either has no real infrastructure available to support them, or such volatile weather that a brisk hurricane season adds a couple billion to their debt?<\/p>\n
You\u2019re scarying me Becerra\u2026 You\u2019re scarying the entire entertainment industry with your conference room settlement talk. The merger shouldn\u2019t happen. It hurts the state and the entertainment industry as a whole. Do you not see that?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t vote for him or any democrat outside Nithya! Enabling them is what\u2019s wrong with the party and boycott all companies stop paying taxes! Demand the wealthy be stripped and no more prisons or police force. Redistribute the wealth!<\/p>\n
So you\u2019re willing to allow Hitlon to have his way? Fool.<\/p>\n