Paramount says it will start leaving California on October 1
David Ellison told executives he’ll begin moving Paramount out of the state unless California’s attorney general agrees to settle the antitrust suit blocking the Warner Bros. deal. California’s AG called it an attempt to blackmail the state. The date isn’t arbitrary.
David Ellison has given California a deadline. Settle the antitrust case, or Paramount starts packing on October 1.
The Paramount Skydance chairman told senior executives last week that he’ll begin the process of exiting the state unless Attorney General Rob Bonta agrees to negotiate over the lawsuit blocking the company’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The plan reportedly starts with the Los Angeles headquarters and shifts most studio jobs out over roughly five years.
Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee are the states under consideration. Tennessee officials reached out in early July to gauge interest.
Why October 1
The date looks like a negotiating flourish. It isn’t.
October 1 is when Paramount begins accruing a ticking fee of $7 million a day under the terms of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, owed if the transaction hasn’t closed by then. The trial isn’t scheduled until March 2, 2027.
Run the arithmetic and the pressure becomes obvious. By the time that trial concludes, Paramount would be on the hook for roughly $1.2 billion to WBD shareholders, purely for the delay.
Paramount asked the judge for a November 2026 trial. It got March 2027 instead.
Bonta’s response
The attorney general did not take it as an opening offer.
“In a span of weeks, Paramount agreed to halt the merger until a court decision or until June 2027, asked for a November trial, and is now back with another attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through,” Bonta said. “Paramount has lost the plot as it continues to lose in court. It didn’t work the first time, on the eve of our July lawsuit, and it won’t work this time.”
Bonta is leading a coalition of state attorneys general, and his position has been strengthened by the court so far. The judge granted a temporary restraining order and set the later trial date over Paramount’s objection.
What leaving would actually cost
The threat carries real weight, and also real complications.
Paramount employs roughly 3,000 people in Los Angeles County, about 17% of a global workforce somewhere near 18,000. Those jobs come with income tax, and the company’s California operations carry corporate, sales, and property tax alongside them.
There’s symbolism too. Paramount is the last legacy studio with an actual presence in Hollywood proper, on the Melrose lot. Reports suggest the Paramount and Warner Bros. lots could be sold to offset relocation costs.
But moving productions is not the same as moving a headquarters. Relocating film and TV work out of California would take years, and it would sour relations with the Hollywood workforce already worried that a combined Paramount-WBD means fewer jobs. Ellison also moved Paramount out of New York only last year, and the company’s SEC filings still list a New York address as its principal executive offices.
The awkward timing
One detail sits badly against the threat.
California’s film commission recently awarded Paramount and CBS more than $37 million in state tax credits, $16 million for a Clueless sequel series and $21 million for the Viola Davis thriller Ascent. The state has been expanding those incentives specifically to keep production from drifting to Georgia, Canada, and the UK.
So the company threatening to leave is simultaneously among the larger beneficiaries of the program designed to keep it.
Paramount has also spent months arguing the opposite case to Bonta. In May its chief legal officer wrote to him reiterating the company’s commitment to California theaters and audiences, and pointing to Ellison’s pledge that the merged company would release at least 30 films a year.
Both things are the same negotiation. The letter was the carrot, and October 1 is the stick, and the attorney general has said publicly that neither is going to move him. What happens if he means it is the part nobody has a plan for yet.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Deadline (August 2026), verified for Ellison’s October 1 statement to executives, the $7 million-per-day ticking fee, the March 2027 trial date in the Northern District of California, Paramount’s request for a November trial, Bonta’s full response, and Puck first reporting the remarks
Variety (August 2026), verified for the September 30 close condition, the roughly $1.2 billion in accrued fees by the trial’s conclusion, the $37 million in California tax credits for Clueless and Ascent, the Melrose lot presence, and the New York address still listed in SEC filings
The Hollywood Reporter (August 11, 2026), verified for Tennessee officials contacting Ellison on July 2, the exploratory talks about relocating to Tennessee, Texas or Georgia, the possible sale of the Paramount and Warner Bros. lots, Paramount’s recent move out of New York, and Bonta’s “blackmail the state” characterization
Axios (August 11, 2026), verified for Ellison considering the move amid the Bonta fight, California’s expanded film and TV incentives aimed at retaining production, and the state film commission’s tax credit award
Cord Cutters News (August 2026), verified for the roughly 3,000 Los Angeles County positions, the 17% share of a global workforce near 18,000, and the associated tax revenue exposure