By 
David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance wants a trial to start in early November for the antitrust lawsuit brought about by a dozen U.S. state attorneys general and the Writers Guild America.
Those parties however want an April start to the proceedings reports Deadline. The proposals were outlined in a joint filing Friday with Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin set to have the final decision.
There’s reason Paramount wants to rush. As part of its takeover agreement of Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount will have to pay WBD shareholders nearly $7 million for every day that the transaction doesn’t close after September 30th.
That clause could cost Paramount well over $1 billion should the trial be pushed into April. Paramount said last week it would not close the merger until June 1st 2027 or until days after the legal issues are resolved, and said it wanted to go directly to trial.
Bloomberg adds that Warners also gets a $7 billion termination fee should the deal collapse due to regulatory issues.
A Paramount spokesperson says in yesterday’s filing: “Our request for a November trial date is more than sufficient to give both sides the time they need to conduct discovery, gather evidence, and prepare for trial. Plaintiffs’ request to delay proceedings until April is nothing more than a stonewalling tactic.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta says: “Our challenge to the unlawful Warner Bros./Paramount merger is a clean-cut antitrust challenge through and through… this challenge deserves careful and thorough review and today my office and attorneys general across the country asked the court for a trial date next spring.”
All this follows in the wake of Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and AMC CEO Adam Aron posting op-ed pieces vocally endorsing the Paramount–Warner merger in The Wall Street Journal and Variety respectively.
The post Paramount Pushes For Antitrust Trial Soon appeared first on Dark Horizons.
