Aug 12 (Reuters) - Paramount Skydance ( PSKY ) is keeping all options, including a possible sale of CNN, "on the table" to resolve California's antitrust suit challenging its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ), the company's chief legal officer said.
Speaking at Politico's California Agenda conference on Tuesday, Makan Delrahim also became the first Paramount executive to publicly acknowledge the Los Angeles-based company may leave California, after recent media reports cited unnamed sources about a potential relocation.
Here are some more details:
-- Asked whether Paramount might quit the state, Delrahim said there is "a point at which where you have a duty, a fiduciary duty to your shareholders, and those are the factors you consider."
-- Referring to California's likely next governor, former U.S. health secretary Xavier Becerra, he said, "If I was governor, I wouldn't want to lose Hollywood from the state. I wouldn't want to lose a major company like Paramount to another state."
-- The exchange came days after Britain cleared the takeover, extracting five-year guarantees on programming and editorial independence for Channel 5 news from CNN International and CBS News.
-- That UK approval left the California-led litigation as the deal's last major regulatory obstacle, following clearances from U.S. federal regulators, China and other jurisdictions.
-- California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general are seeking to block the merger, arguing it would create a "media behemoth" able to raise prices and reduce competition in film and television markets.
-- The states have dismissed Paramount's pledge to release 30 films a year as unenforceable and said the company would still be in a position to raise prices and decrease quality after the merger even if it stuck to that promise.