Antitrust case reportedly has Paramount eyeing Georgia, others for HQ move

Could Atlanta become home to Paramount Skydance?

David Ellison, the chairman of Paramount, which is trying to buy CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery, is reportedly threatening to move its headquarters from Los Angeles to a city in a state that is not suing his company, according to reports from multiple media outlets, citing unnamed individuals.

Ellison held a meeting last week with his executive team and said he is considering a move to Texas, Tennessee, Georgia or an unnamed state if California Attorney General Rob Bonta doesn’t negotiate a settlement with Paramount by Oct. 1, entertainment journalist Matt Belloni of Puck reported this week, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

A spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the state’s top business recruiting organization and the agency that runs the state’s film office, said the department does not comment “on speculation or private correspondence.”

“However, as a major film production hub with long-term relationships with our industry partners, we welcome any such conversations,” GDEcD spokeswoman Allie Dean said in an email.

Last month, Bonta and the attorneys general of 11 other Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit against Paramount to try to stop the merger, which is currently valued at about $111 billion.

The blockbuster deal would combine the Warner Bros. and Paramount studios, CBS, Atlanta-based TNT and TBS, Discovery, HBO, HGTV, and other networks, along with intellectual property such as DC Comics and the Harry Potter film franchise. The combined company would have two major news operations under its belt — CBS News and CNN — and two streaming services.

Critics of the deal say it could increase costs to consumers and give Paramount too much power with regard to theatrical releases of movies and over news and other programming. Democrats have also slammed the foreign financial commitments made as part of the deal.

Paramount’s chief legal officer, meanwhile, said at a conference this week a potential sale of CNN is “on the table” if such a move might help the company get past litigation that has tied up the merger, Politico reported this week.

At Politico’s the California Agenda: Sacramento Summit, Paramount Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim also nodded to the company’s deliberations about moving.

“His intent is to be committed to California,” Delrahim said Tuesday of Ellison.

Delrahim went on to say: “If I was governor, I wouldn’t want to lose Hollywood from the state. I wouldn’t want to lose a major company like Paramount to another state. It isn’t a blackmail attempt. You go where you’re wanted.”

What is happening with the litigation?

Oct. 1 is a key date for Paramount. The company would have to pay a $7 million daily penalty for the delay.

A federal judge set an antitrust trial for March 2, meaning Paramount would owe WBD shareholders an additional $1.2 billion even if the merger succeeded.

Bonta has remained defiant. “It is an attempt to blackmail regulators who are daring to enforce the law,” he said at a conference after hearing Ellison’s threat.

Bonta has not publicly stated what specific concessions would satisfy him to end the lawsuit.

Regulators with the American federal government, the U.K., the EU, China and elsewhere have cleared the merger.

Paramount was based out of New York for decades until last August, but moved to Los Angeles after its merger with Skydance to be closer to more of its existing film and television production operations.

Could Georgia be a suitor?

Georgia has several factors going for it in a possible contest for Paramount’s headquarters, noted Brandon Reese, the Southeast lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association from 2022 until earlier this year.

“This is a pro business state. Taxes are lower. And they’ll have access to some of the most modern soundstages in the world,” said Reese, who is currently a contract lobbyist for the MPA.

Randy Davidson, publisher of Georgia Entertainment News, said he thinks Ellison is serious.

“You can’t ignore Georgia,” he said. “We have the airport. We have the type of environment that welcomes corporate America.”

He said he also believes, regardless of who becomes governor this November, the state’s support of a strong TV and film infrastructure in Georgia won’t change.

Davidson also noted maverick entrepreneur Ted Turner’s legacy in Atlanta. Turner, who died earlier this year, for a time actually owned MGM Studios on top of a raft of cable networks before selling Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner in 1996.

Even after the sale, Time Warner and successors AT&T and now Warner Bros. Discovery have kept sizable — albeit shrinking — operations in Atlanta. A merger would likely mean consolidation and fewer jobs across the board.

But a headquarters move might help Atlanta stem such losses, said Paul Levinson, a Fordham University media and communications professor.

“It would certainly be a real feather in Atlanta’s cap if they got Paramount,” he said.

Paramount Skydance has about 17,600 workers worldwide. Warner Bros. Discovery has an estimated 35,500, including more than 3,000 at Midtown Atlanta’s Techwood campus.