California AG Bonta on Paramount-Warner Bros., Meta and AI
Speakers
Rob Bonta
— California Attorney General
Summary
California Attorney General Rob Bonta discusses his opposition to Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the Meta child-safety settlement, AI regulation, the Live Nation/Ticketmaster antitrust case, prediction markets, and mail-in ballot litigation. He emphasizes state authority on antitrust, consumer protection, and elections, and says California will continue enforcing laws against large platforms and merger activity.
- Bonta opposes Paramount Skydance's Warner Bros. Discovery takeover and seeks structural remedies in theatrical release, distribution, and cable licensing markets.
- He says the court's temporary restraining order indicates California is likely to win its antitrust case against the merger.
- The Meta child-safety settlement includes injunctive relief and $17 billion for mental-health harms, with Bonta expecting industry-wide changes at TikTok, YouTube, and Snap.
- California is investigating OpenAI's AI-agent incident involving Hugging Face and is prepared to enforce AI and chatbot laws.
- A jury found for the states against Ticketmaster/Live Nation in the liability phase; remedies could include divestiture.
- Bonta says states retain authority over prediction markets and gambling despite federal CFTC positions, and the issue may reach the Supreme Court.
- He defends state authority over mail-in balloting after a Supreme Court ruling and says California will sue over unlawful election interference.
Ideas
California antitrust challenge threatens Paramount-WBD merger.
Bonta is fighting Paramount Skydance's $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery and is seeking structural remedies or divestitures in three markets: blockbuster theatrical release, widespread theatrical distribution, and cable channel licensing. He argues the DOJ review was not rigorous, the merger would unlawfully concentrate markets and harm consumers and jobs, and the court's temporary restraining order indicates California is likely to win, so the deal faces substantial antitrust and legal risk that could block it or force divestitures.
Ticketmaster divestiture risk after liability verdict.
A jury found for California and other states on every question in the liability phase against Ticketmaster/Live Nation. The case is now in the remedies phase, where the court will decide whether Ticketmaster must be divested or what other remedies will be imposed to address Live Nation's unlawful conduct, creating divestiture and regulatory risk for Live Nation.
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This Bloomberg Markets video, published September 18, 2026, features Rob Bonta discussing WBD, PSKY, LYV. 2 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.