California A.G. Rejects Paramount's $1.88 Billion Bond Bid as March 2 Merger Trial Looms
Updated
Updated · Variety · Aug 17
California A.G. Rejects Paramount's $1.88 Billion Bond Bid as March 2 Merger Trial Looms
3 articles · Updated · Variety · Aug 17
Summary
California's attorney general on Monday urged the court to deny Paramount's new demand that states and the Writers Guild post a $1.88 billion bond tied to delaying its Warner Bros. merger.
The office said Paramount knowingly accepted regulatory risk when it agreed to a $7 million-a-day ticking fee and later stipulated not to close the deal until after trial or next June.
Paramount says a June 1 closing would cost it about $1.7 billion in ticking fees plus $190 million in financing costs, and wants the bond added now or the delay agreement dissolved.
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin had already waived any bond in July, citing important public interests, and set the antitrust trial for March 2.
The dispute sits inside a 12-state effort led by Rob Bonta to block the merger over competition concerns in theatrical and basic cable markets, which Paramount says lack merit.