Paramount sign in front of the office at 1515 Broadway, New York City, USA, February 17, 2026.
Adam Gray | Reuters
California Attorney General Rob Bonta canceled a meeting with the undersecretary. paramount skydance Monday, the company is scheduled to warner bros discovery.
“My office met with Paramount on Friday, and Paramount did not keep those meetings confidential. Not only did Paramount leak the purported content of the settlement talks, it misrepresented those discussions and demonstrated a lack of good faith,” Bonta said in a statement.
“My office would be happy to meet again if Paramount would just stop playing games and be honest,” he said.
He said Bonta was scheduled to meet with Paramount representatives on Monday, but canceled the meeting. California’s attorney general is leading a multi-state lawsuit to block the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and WBD.
Paramount said in a statement that it had “assured” the attorney general’s office that it was not the source of the breach.
“We remain hopeful and ready to continue negotiations in good faith to resolve the Attorney General’s lawsuit and move forward with plans to increase competition and increase production to the benefit of talent and entertainment workers,” the company said in a statement.
A WBD spokesperson declined to comment Monday. The New York Times first reported Monday’s meeting and subsequent cancellation.
Bonta told CNBC last week that he was ready to come to the table and negotiate a settlement, calling the case a “black and white” antitrust case.
“We would like to see the case resolved in the boardroom rather than in court, but for now we are litigating and, you know, we would like the focus to be on the actual allegations that we are making in the complaint,” Bonta told CNBC on Thursday.
Still, Bonta said resolving the lawsuit will require “strong structural remedies” on Paramount’s part.
Mr. Bonta and 11 other state governments filed a lawsuit in July seeking to block the merger, arguing that the deal would create a media giant that would control large portions of movies and basic television programming. Bonta told CNBC last week that the lawsuit is not focused on streaming, CNN or foreign regulators.
Paramount, which is proposing to buy WBD for about $110 billion, has agreed to delay closing the deal until at least June 2027. A trial on the antitrust case is scheduled for March.
Paramount has previously supported its decision to acquire WBD, calling the lawsuit a “competitive misrepresentation.”
