With worrying numbers about potential L.A. job losses and other economic impacts resulting from a Paramount-Warner Bos Discovery merger, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has just put its thumb on the scale of a possible state attorneys general’s legal action against David Ellison‘s pending $111 billion deal.
“The merger places about 2,495 jobs in Greater Los Angeles County and about 6,000 globally at potential risk, mainly in corporate, tech, real estate, and other shared functions due to duplicative roles across the two companies,” reads a June 18-filed report by the L.A. County Department of Economic Opportunity to the powerful board of supervisors.
Click to read the L.A. County report here.
“This estimate should not be read as a layoff forecast; it only defines the scale of possible employment impacts that may be subject to consolidation. These roles are the most immediately exposed to consolidation.”
While the report, titled Protecting Entertainment Jobs: Evaluating the Economic Impact of the Purchase of Warner Bros, offers a bleak fallout from any possible ParaBros merger, it also pivot toward the realpolitik of the pending deal amid federal and state posturing and policy.
Specifically, the report from DOEO director Kelly LoBianco notes the anticipated lawsuit from California AG Rob Bonta and nearly a dozen other states nationwide that is the at the very least intended to hit the pause button on the plans by Donald Trump’s “good friends” David and Larry Ellison.
Of course, as Bonta’s office and others say they are still investigating the merger, Thursday’s report by the county presents its possibly most important directive in politically bland language — but read between the lines and it’s clear where this is going.
The report says: “The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) recently approved the Paramount Skydance and Warner Brothers Discovery merger on June 12, 2026, earlier than the September 2026 expected deadline. The DOJ concluded that the merger would help workers by strengthening competition and not reducing job opportunities. The decision has prompted continued discourse from stakeholders on possible layoffs, reduced production, and weakened labor standards unless strong safeguards are put in place.
“The California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta, under State and Federal antitrust law, has both the authority and ability to block or delay the merger. The AG’s office has publicly stated that they are actively investigating and coordinating with other states and expect to decide imminently whether to file suit. A State-level lawsuit (and preliminary injunction) could significantly delay or derail the deal, despite DOJ approval.”
Then again, the county is blunt about about what it thinks its own lawyers should do.
“Direct County Counsel to submit formal comments to the U.S. Department of Justice regarding antitrust concerns, and monitor any action taken by State Attorneys General, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who are investigating this deal and its potential anti-competitive impacts,” the report says, noting “the urgency of the issues raised.”
“Counsel will submit formal comments to the U.S. Department of Justice regarding antitrust concerns, monitor any action taken by State Attorneys General regarding the proposed merger deal, and monitor the actions of California Attorney General Rob Bonta in his investigation of the proposed Paramount-Warner Brothers merger and its potential anti-competitive impacts.”
With an estimated $80 billion in debt projected to result from a combined ParaBros, plus continuing concerns about Middle East financial stakes in the new company, the jarring county report is graphic, literally and figuratively, about potential job losses to come.
In response to the county’s critical report, Paramount took aim at the “the status quo” [that] continues to fail Los Angeles’ entertainment economy,” calling the merger a “response to these realities, Paramount said its goal is to “help ensure Los Angeles remains the global capital of entertainment for generations to come.” (Read the full statement below.)
Noticeably, the Paramount response did not address the report’s job losses in and around L.A. County as a result of the deal.
Bonta’s office did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment today on the report.
The report news comes as three key Democratic senators are calling on the FCC to bar the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger from closing until an agency review of foreign ownership is pending. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote in a letter to FCC chairman Brendan Carr that the commission “has an obligation to honestly answer a fundamental question: whether placing 49.5 percent of the equity in the parent company of CBS, CNN, and 28 broadcast television stations into the hands of three foreign governments serves the American public. We are prepared to pursue every available avenue — legislative, oversight, and legal — to ensure that it does.”
Meanwhile, as a multi-phased review by UK regulators may have already thrown their own spanner in Paramount-WBD works last week, there is serious money on the table for Ellison and his Oracle founder father if the merger isn’t locked in by September 30. At that point, a ticking fee kicks in and Paramount would be paying hundreds of millions out to WBD shareholders each subsequent month.
“The report issued by Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity underscores the multiple ways in which the status quo continues to fail Los Angeles’ entertainment economy: reduced output, declining linear television revenues, and competing incentives from other jurisdictions have left consumers and creatives subject to the whims of the dominant technology and streaming platforms that rule Hollywood today.
The proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is a response to those realities. A combined Paramount-WBD will have the scale and resources needed to compete more effectively in a rapidly evolving global media marketplace and invest in content, technology, and jobs.
Paramount is proud to call Los Angeles home. For more than a century, our historic Melrose studio lot has been at the heart of Hollywood’s creative economy, and California, which is where our headquarters is based, remains central to our future. This transaction is about strengthening that legacy—creating a more competitive company that can invest in storytelling, support creative talent, and help ensure Los Angeles remains the global capital of entertainment for generations to come.”
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