California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Sunday canceled a Monday meeting with Paramount representatives to discuss settling the state’s lawsuit seeking to block the company’s proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, accusing Paramount of acting in bad faith.
Bonta said Paramount leaked and misrepresented details of a Friday meeting between the parties. “Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith,” he said in a statement to The NYTimes.
“As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again.”
A Paramount spokeswoman had no immediate comment Monday morning.
The canceled session was intended only as a preliminary discussion, with no guarantee of progress toward a settlement. Still, the prospect of talks had been viewed as a potential breakthrough after Paramount threatened to leave California and Gov. Gavin Newsom indicated a preference for resolving the case.
Paramount’s proposed purchase would combine two major movie studios, multiple streaming services, and the news outlets CNN and CBS News into a single media giant headquartered in Hollywood and employing large numbers of people in Los Angeles. Last month, California led a coalition of 12 state attorneys general in filing suit to block the deal, arguing it would give the combined company excessive market power in cable television and movie studios.
Bonta has said he would accept only structural remedies, such as requiring the sale of parts of the combined business—steps executives are often reluctant to take because of the financial assumptions already built into merger plans.