Rob Bonta on Paramount’s Threat to Leave California: “They Own It. It Lies at Their Feet”

Paramount‘s threat to leave California if the group of state attorneys general don’t come to terms on a settlement does not seem to be budging AG Rob Bonta’s point-of-view on the antitrust suit, which seeks to block Paramount’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Bonta was asked about the threat and the status of the suit during a panel at The Atlantic Festival Thursday afternoon at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in lower Manhattan.

Bonta, who was on a panel with two Republican AGs, Pennsylvania’s Dave Sunday and New Hampshire’s John Formella, reminded the audience that Paramount’s threat to leave isn’t new, but that it is ultimately up to them.

“I can’t comment on what a company decides to do, especially a company that has professed a commitment to Hollywood and to California,” Bonta said. “If they make that choice to leave, that is their choice and their choice alone. They own it. It lies at their feet.”

Multiple states, including Texas and Tennessee, have courted Paramount as it weighs its options.

Similarly, Bonta framed the effort to get the states to post a nearly $1.9 billion bond as “an effort to manufacture, invent, generate leverage in the case, and we think they have no right to it,” Bonta said, adding that he expects the judge in the case to agree with him, even as the Trump DOJ sides with Paramount.

That said, while there is a settlement conference set for next month, there have been rumblings this week that the two sides are in active discussions about a oath forward. Bonta confirmed that he is open to a settlement, as long as the state gets an outcome that it desires.

“We will do our job. We have a job to enforce the law without fear, without favor, and at the same time, we are always open to coming to the table if it is in good faith and is sincere,” Bonta said. “And we will always explore an opportunity to get the results that we want based on our evaluation of the case at the table.”

While the lawsuit has become a hot-button news topic and political football, Bonta once again framed it as a simple suit:

“This was,” Bonta said, before correcting himself. “Is, and when we looked at it, was and continues to be a black and white, bread and butter, meat and potatoes antitrust case.”