Paramount will keep its headquarters in Los Angeles after its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, Chairman and CEO David Ellison has said.
“Let me be clear: the newly merged company will be headquartered in Los Angeles,” Ellison said in a statement. “We aren’t going anywhere. Our history is here and this is where our future is being built.”
His statement ended weeks of uncertainty over whether Paramount could move its headquarters out of California following the merger.
The issue emerged after a settlement between Paramount and 12 state attorneys general over an antitrust lawsuit required the merged company to keep both the Paramount lot on Melrose and the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank for at least five years.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Monday that he believed the merged company would also keep its headquarters in California.
“I believe that will be the case, that they will have their headquarters in California for the foreseeable future,” Bonta said.
He said the headquarters arrangement was not part of the settlement, although he expected Paramount to make a public statement on the matter.
Paramount had not initially addressed the headquarters question in Ellison’s response to the settlement or an internal company memo outlining plans for the combined business.
The company had previously faced speculation that it could move its headquarters to Tennessee, Texas or Georgia if the antitrust case was not resolved by October 1, when a costly ticking fee tied to the Warner Bros. Discovery deal was due to take effect.
Under the consent decree, the merged Paramount must not sell or close either the Paramount or Warner Bros. lots for five years.
It must also use commercially reasonable efforts to operate the studios in line with past practices, including leasing space to third parties and producing films and television shows.
The settlement clears a major regulatory hurdle for Paramount’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery while keeping the company’s core studio operations in California.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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