Lilly Wachowski is reimagining the studio system (Pt 1)

I am joined by my colleague and banterer, Matt Belloni.

Hello, Matt.

Hi there.

So Paramount was saying, "If we're gonna have a trial about this, uh, merger that we wanna do, let's not fiddle around.

Let's not wait for a preliminary injunction.

Let's freeze the whole closing of the deal, and let's get to a trial.

How about in November?" And the state attorneys general asked for April, and the judge said, "How about March?" [laughs] March is not great news for David Ellison and his father, Larry, because the ticking fee starts at the beginning of October, and that gives literal months for the seven million dollar a day payment to pile up, and certainly leaves a lot of time for discovery, which I am definitely interested in.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's less about the ticking fee.

I mean, what's another billion or two for Larry Ellison?

[laughs] Right.

Who's counting?

I think it's more about the delay in integrating these companies.

I mean, these mergers are about competing in streaming, and every day that this drags out is another day that competitors can pull ahead.

And I think the longer this drags out, yes, it's gonna make the deal even tougher to close, and then what happens if they get a unfavorable ruling that they have to appeal, and yada, yada, yada? But it's also just dragging this company down in uncertainty.

Yes.

It kind of leaves the people at Warner's, although as I reported, they were happy, m-many of them, because they just wanna keep their jobs, and they think that when the deal closes, there's gonna be these major layoffs.

Well, but enough of them are antsy to leave that Warner Discovery actually sued Amazon over its poaching of a marketing executive, and there were several other HBO and other executives that wanted to leave, or at least were considering it, and now have to think twice because they know [laughs] that Warner Discovery might sue if they try to break their contract.

Yes.

They're faced with some a-unappetizing choices, I would say at this point.

[laughs] So David Ellison seems to have responded to all of this by saying, "You know, we're gonna close this deal.

All the facts are on our side.

But meanwhile, if you states' attorneys general wanna negotiate a settlement, we're here for it.

We would be open to that," which is clearly the best hope they have, I think, with the trial date stuck in March.

Yeah, that could be true, and you know, we've also seen some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that Gavin Newsom, the California governor, is interested in a settlement as well.

Don't know whether that will impact what Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, is gonna do here.

I am joined by my colleague and banterer, Matt Belloni.

Hello, Matt.

Hi there.

So Paramount was saying, "If we're gonna have a trial about this, uh, merger that we wanna do, let's not fiddle around.

Let's not wait for a preliminary injunction.

Let's freeze the whole closing of the deal, and let's get to a trial.

How about in November?" And the state attorneys general asked for April, and the judge said, "How about March?" [laughs] March is not great news for David Ellison and his father, Larry, because the ticking fee starts at the beginning of October, and that gives literal months for the seven million dollar a day payment to pile up, and certainly leaves a lot of time for discovery, which I am definitely interested in.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's less about the ticking fee.

I mean, what's another billion or two for Larry Ellison?

[laughs] Right.

Who's counting?

I think it's more about the delay in integrating these companies.

I mean, these mergers are about competing in streaming, and every day that this drags out is another day that competitors can pull ahead.

And I think the longer this drags out, yes, it's gonna make the deal even tougher to close, and then what happens if they get a unfavorable ruling that they have to appeal, and yada, yada, yada? But it's also just dragging this company down in uncertainty.

Yes.

It kind of leaves the people at Warner's, although as I reported, they were happy, m-many of them, because they just wanna keep their jobs, and they think that when the deal closes, there's gonna be these major layoffs.

Well, but enough of them are antsy to leave that Warner Discovery actually sued Amazon over its poaching of a marketing executive, and there were several other HBO and other executives that wanted to leave, or at least were considering it, and now have to think twice because they know [laughs] that Warner Discovery might sue if they try to break their contract.

Yes.

They're faced with some a-unappetizing choices, I would say at this point.

[laughs] So David Ellison seems to have responded to all of this by saying, "You know, we're gonna close this deal.

All the facts are on our side.

But meanwhile, if you states' attorneys general wanna negotiate a settlement, we're here for it.

We would be open to that," which is clearly the best hope they have, I think, with the trial date stuck in March.

Yeah, that could be true, and you know, we've also seen some reporting from The Wall Street Journal that Gavin Newsom, the California governor, is interested in a settlement as well.

Don't know whether that will impact what Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, is gonna do here.