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.