California Gov. Gavin Newsom is denying that he pressured the state's attorney general to settle an antitrust lawsuit against Paramount Skydance Corp., a resolution that clears the way for the company's proposed $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. to move forward.
Attorney General Rob Bonta had originally led a group of state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the deal, which was initially expected to close during the third quarter of this year. By Monday, Paramount announced that a settlement had been reached, allowing the merger to continue. The agreement quickly drew criticism from progressive and Democratic figures who had urged Bonta not to settle, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who condemned the outcome.
Newsom addressed the accusations directly on Wednesday, telling Axios that he did not apply pressure on Bonta. «I didn't pressure anybody,» Newsom said. «I made the point. I've made it very publicly and consistently and been reported maybe two or three hundred different ways that we, me, many folks, including the mayor, soon-to-be governor-elect [Xavier] Becerra and others, preferred, in the words of Rob Bonta himself, that he focus on getting this done at the boardroom, not the courtroom.»
The governor said he and others amplified Bonta's own public comments on CNBC suggesting that a negotiated resolution was a better approach. «That was the framework, and he worked hard to deliver for California, and I think he did,» Newsom said.
Bonta confirmed the settlement during a press conference on Monday but insisted it did not represent an endorsement of the merger. «This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger; it is not a blessing of the broader merger,» Bonta said. He added that he is always willing to engage in honest, good-faith negotiations and would rather resolve such cases in the boardroom than the courtroom when a strong solution protecting competition and consumers can be found. «That's what happened here,» he said.
Critics of the merger have accused Bonta and Newsom of caving to Paramount after reports suggested CEO David Ellison was considering moving the company's headquarters out of California if a deal was not reached. The accusation was one Newsom rejected in his remarks.
The settlement has also drawn sharp reaction from media and political commentators. Joseph Vazquez, associate editor at the Media Research Center's business division, told Fox News Digital that the episode reflected a political retreat under economic pressure. «It's all left-wing virtue-signaling until economic reality slaps you in the face,» Vazquez said, arguing that California's business climate and the antitrust case had become politically inconvenient for Democrats ahead of midterm elections. He suggested that the last thing Democrats or Newsom needed was for a multibillion-dollar media company to leave Los Angeles for a more business-friendly state, regardless of concerns about media consolidation.
Warren, meanwhile, issued a statement condemning the settlement. «Allowing one Trump-aligned, foreign-owned conglomerate to dominate American news and entertainment is a disastrous outcome,» she said. Warren argued that the Trump administration had run an apparently corrupt antitrust review process to wave through a merger she described as blatantly illegal, and that the settlement greenlights an anti-monopoly disaster resulting in higher prices and fewer jobs while enabling a handful of billionaires to call the shots in American media.
She also warned that corporate executives for aspiring monopolies are quick to offer unenforceable promises to close a deal, but that workers and consumers ultimately pay the price. «The new Paramount behemoth is a clear candidate for antitrust scrutiny in a future pro-competition Administration,» Warren said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom and Bonta's office for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The settlement marks a significant step toward completing the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, a deal that has been closely watched for its potential impact on competition, employment, and the media landscape.