A deposit has reportedly been put down on the moving trucks. Paramount executives have told Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Attorney General Rob Bonta that the company is “deadly serious” about leaving California, and Hollywood, after more than 100 years, Deadline reported.
The threat is tied to the company’s pending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, valued at about $110 billion. Bonta and 11 other states filed an antitrust lawsuit against the deal in mid-July, and the Writers Guild of America has sued too. David Ellison, Paramount’s CEO, has made it known he will take the company out of the state if California does not drop its effort to block the merger.
Where it might go
Georgia, Tennessee and Texas have reportedly been floated as destinations. Tennessee has a strong link to the Ellison family, and Deadline’s sources said Paramount has been asking about commercial real estate there. TMZ first reported that the company had contacted city and state officials about an exit announcement. Paramount declined to comment to Deadline on the state of its plans.
Bonta’s office would not discuss the company’s plans. “What Paramount decides to do is Paramount’s choice alone,” a spokesperson said, adding that the office would “continue to apply the law without fear or favor” and stay open to good faith talks. Bonta has spent months accusing Paramount of “blackmail” in its campaign to win public opinion. A spokesperson for Bass said the mayor would keep fighting to make sure L.A. is home to Hollywood.
What a move would cost
A September 10 document from the county-affiliated Economic Development Corporation put numbers on it. Moving Paramount’s headquarters and other operations out would cost California between 2,750 and 5,550 job-years and between $1.01 billion and $2.03 billion in economic output from October 1, 2026, to September 30, 2031. Once the relocation was complete, it said, the state would permanently lose roughly 28,990 to 57,980 full-time jobs and $10.6 billion to $21.2 billion in annual output. Paramount helped the non-profit put the report together.
The same document found one bright spot. Executives have promised that the combined studios will release at least 30 films a year for three years, which the county estimates would generate 1,020 to 2,760 job-years and $377.7 million to $1.01 billion in output over the same period.
The clock
Pressure is building on the money side. A “ticking fee” that Paramount voluntarily added as a sweetener in its battle with Netflix over buying Warner Bros. Discovery starts on October 1. At roughly $7.2 million a day, it would reach $635 million for the quarter, paid to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. Paramount has asked for a $1.88 billion bond from the plaintiffs to cover losses it expects from the fee, and a hearing on that request was due the following week. The U.S. Department of Justice sided with Paramount on jurisdiction and the bond request.
The trial is set for March 2, with court-ordered settlement meetings next month. The merged company would carry a projected $80 billion in debt and has promised shareholders $6 billion in cost savings, so layoffs are widely expected, though Paramount executives say job losses would be minimal. Deadline noted that a move would have little immediate effect on the lawsuit’s path through the federal courts.
