On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we discuss the $111 billion mega-merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Ellisons, billionaire father and son Larry and David, who are aligned with Trump, now control a media and entertainment empire that include CBS, CNN, and HBOMax. The royal families of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi contributed $24 billion to help David Ellison close the deal.
In July, California attorney general Rob Bonta and 11 other Democratic state attorneys general sued to block Paramount's $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. arguing the merger would harm competition by lowering output and raising prices, hurting both workers and consumers in the process.
But according to The Wall Street Journal, in early August, Ellison tapped former California Assembly Speaker and Democratic power broker Fabian Núñez to help build political support for the deal in Sacramento.
Núñez, founder of the consulting firm Actum, met frequently with Bonta’s office in an effort to broker peace. Ellison also enlisted Democratic former California Senator Barbara Boxer and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to help, both of whom are partners with Actum, people familiar with the matter said.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly called on the two sides to settle the matter, and privately encouraged the attorney general to go to the table. Ellison met with Newsom on more than one occasion, the people familiar with the matter said.
Guests:
Mark Jacob, freelance writer, former Metro Editor at the Chicago Tribune and Sunday Editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, and author of the Stop the Presses newsletter
Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy and communications at Free Press
Resources:
Stop the Presses: American oligarchs and foreign fatcats are attempting ‘media capture’
Free Press: A Warning About Media Consolidation as We Face Another Senseless War
The Wall Street Journal: A High-Stakes Gambit Clinched Paramount’s Warner Deal
The Guardian: Bari Weiss appoints editor viewed as pro-Israel in latest CBS News shake-up
