Overview
- The Justice Department filed a court brief supporting Paramount’s request that the 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild post a roughly $1.88 billion bond to cover delay-related losses, saying the bond would make plaintiffs have “skin in the game.”
- A judge scheduled a hearing on the bond for Sept. 24 and ordered a two-day, in-person settlement conference for Oct. 14–15 with settlement statements due Oct. 7, while a merits trial is set to begin March 2, 2027.
- Paramount bases the $1.88 billion figure largely on a contractual ticking fee of about $7 million per day that starts on Oct. 1 if the merger has not closed, plus estimated financing and other delay costs.
- The company has publicly threatened to relocate if the deal stalls and has reportedly taken preliminary relocation steps; Los Angeles economic studies warn a departure could cost tens of thousands of jobs and up to roughly $21.2 billion in annual output.
- The state coalition and the Writers Guild oppose the large bond and are seeking structural remedies such as divestitures; courts are historically cautious about massive bonds and the DOJ backing deepens a split with the federal antitrust review that approved the merger in June.