Reassuring everybody that a plucky little movie studio CEO really can make it in this world, with nothing but extensive political connections, a moderate number of massive economic threats, and some big heaping piles of Daddy’s money, Paramount CEO David Ellison was treated to news today that his settlement with the state Attorneys General who were the last roadblock between him and a purchase of rival studio Warner Bros. has been formally approved. Among other things, that means we’re now a week out from the $111 billion merger being closed, with plans to do so on Wednesday, October 7.
This is per Variety, which reports that U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín has given formal approval to the settlement, calling it “a procedurally sound resolution” to the bitter fighting over the deal. (Not the descriptors employed by noted opponent Mark Ruffalo, who made statements today calling the settlement “a bad deal for this country” that “will stifle creativity, weaken free speech, and cost people their jobs.”) The settlement itself wound up being quite a bit weaker than the one California’s Rob Bonta and his 11 colleagues were originally pushing for; rather than force Paramount to sell off some assets so that it didn’t own quite such a huge chunk of Hollywood’s infrastructure, the deal now focuses on a bunch of nice, cheap promises, including a pledge not to sell either Paramount or Warner Bros.’ existing movie lots for at least five years, the now frequently broadcast pledge to release 30 movies per year from the combined studios, and the establishment of a “news editorial independence board” to provide some oversight over the company’s ownership of both CBS News and CNN.
Meanwhile, Ellison has been busy handing out jobs, most notably naming Ynon Kreiz, currently CEO of Mattel, to serve as his co-CEO at the combined company. (That’s in addition to previous reports about HBO’s Casey Bloys taking on a bigger role overseeing stuff like Paramount+; also, current Warner CEO David Zaslav is headed out the door, with nothing but half a billion in stocks and cash, and the anguished screams of animators everywhere, to comfort him in his exile.) Meanwhile, we’re all waiting with baited breath to see what Ellison and Kreiz wind up naming their new monster; WarnerMount and ParaBros both sound dumb as hell, admittedly, but, then, we’re not sure there’s any name that could make quite this much voracious media consolidation sound good.
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