David Ellison: Me, Move? I Love L.A.

Fresh off brushing past California attorney general Rob Bonta with a settlement in which arguably only minor concessions were made, David Ellison is ready to re-commit to the idea of keeping his Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery empire in Los Angeles.

“Now that we reached and announced a settlement, we’re eager to get to work building a stronger Hollywood,” Ellison said in a statement. “Let me be clear: the newly merged company will be headquartered in Los Angeles. We aren’t going anywhere. Our history is here and this is where our future is being built.”

This brings the mogul back in line with his tune circa February of this year, when he was making promises to California politicians about how he would boost local production and bring back glory to Hollywood’s home town. Then California attorney general Rob Bonta and his posse of 12 states filed a lawsuit in July that seemingly had Paramount on the ropes.

And then the whispers started. Ellison and his family have deep ties to Tennessee, he could pull up stakes and move Paramount there. Texas officials want the state to be the corporate headquarters capital of the United States, plus they have lower taxes — how does Austin sound for a Paramount base?

Even at the time, these was chalked up to a game of high-stakes chicken over the summer between Ellison and California. But with each passing day, and with the threat of a $7 million-per-day ticking fee that Paramount would have to pay starting in October, the threat of a relocation kept feeling a bit more serious.