Bonta Calls DOJ’s Statement on Paramount Deal ‘Shameless’ (1)

California Attorney General Rob Bonta criticized the Trump administration for clearing Paramount Skydance Corp.’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., as several states mull a possible challenge to the deal.

Bonta said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday that he believes federal antitrust enforcers have given up their traditional approach to merger reviews.

The Justice Department under President Donald Trump is “just picking winners and losers. They’re helping the people they want,” he said, pointing to Paramount controlling shareholders Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison, who are close to Trump.

Rob Bonta

Photographer: Jason Henry/Bloomberg

Bonta referred to a lengthy closing statement from the US Justice Department Friday about its review of the tie-up, which would combine two of the five largest Hollywood studios.

In the statement, the agency outlined specific areas of the investigation and concluded that the industry was “highly dynamic” and the deal wasn’t “likely to harm competition or American consumers.”

“That statement, it’s shameless that they mention the markets,” Bonta said. “They just want to help the Ellisons.”

A Paramount spokesperson said the company “fully complied” with the DOJ investigation in which the state attorneys general participated. “Politics should not enter the review of this merger and just like Australia, New Zealand, China and multiple other jurisdictions, any principled review of our merger will show that there is no credible antitrust concern,” the spokesperson said.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department rarely issues closing statements such as the one Friday on the Paramount-WBD deal. Since Trump took office, the agency has issued one other, which regarded T-Mobile US Inc.’s purchase of US Cellular Corp.’s wireless operations.

California has taken the lead on behalf of state attorneys general in the antitrust probe of the merger. The states are preparing a lawsuit to challenge the deal, though no final decision has yet been reached, Bloomberg previously reported.

Bonta said during the interview that the states’ trust in the Justice Department’s antitrust enforcement “has been destroyed.” He cited the DOJ’s surprise settlement in April a week into trial in the monopolization case against Live Nation Entertainment Inc., which the states went on to win. He also criticized the government’s handling of Nexstar Media Group Inc.’s purchase of Tegna.

Bonta declined to comment on potential settlement discussions in the Paramount deal. He called some reports about the deal “perplexing,” citing comments that the state investigation was “political” and that critics are “antisemitic.”

“We’re looking at this as a straight antitrust case,” he said. “That’s how the US DOJ should have looked at it.”

Paramount’s deal still requires approval from the European Commission and the two sides are set to sit down for a key meeting next week. On Thursday, the company said it had received regulatory approval from China’s antitrust authority.

(Updates with Paramount comment.)

--With assistance from Josh Sisco.

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