California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said on Monday that he would be willing to negotiate with Paramount in its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery if “purported leaks” were to stop.
After reports that the two sides would be sitting down for negotiations, Rob Bonta suddenly called off the scheduled talks on Monday, alleging that Paramount leaked confidential discussions about the studio’s acquisition of Warner Bros.
“Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith. As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again,” Bonta said in a statement.
“Bonta’s calling off the Monday meeting came after a Wall Street Journal report Sunday cited anonymous sources as saying that the California AG was ‘expected to ask Paramount to divest some cable channels and commit to keeping its movie studio separate from Warner Bros.’ as a condition for dropping the 12-state antitrust lawsuit seeking to stop the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger,” according to Variety.
Paramount emphatically denied the leaks came from the studio’s offices.
“We share AG Bonta’s concerns about the public discussions and misreporting that has surrounded this deal,” Paramount said in a statement sent to Variety. “As we have assured the Attorney General’s office, Paramount has not been the source of the leaks of any of our confidential discussions with the AG’s office. We remain hopeful and stand ready to continue good-faith discussions to resolve the Attorneys General suit and move forward with our plans for increased competition and increased output to the benefit of the talent and entertainment workers.”
Speaking to TheWrap, Bonta accused Paramount of “being cute.”
“They’re being cute. They’re playing games. They are purportedly disclosing confidential information from our discussions, but misrepresenting it to the press. That’s completely inappropriate,” he said.
Bonta said that he remains open to “good faith” discussions provided the leaks stop.
“All of this is on them. This is another bed of their own making. We were literally ready to talk to them because we assumed, as I think we should, that they were interested in having good faith, sincere settlement negotiations until and unless they prove us wrong,” he said. “They managed to prove us wrong in that assumption with these misrepresenting purported leaks. So that doesn’t work for us.”