Mayor Parker, Who Opposed the $110 Billion Studio Merger Unless It Saved Jobs, Now Urges the Attorney General to Settle and Let It Through
The city's biggest union of writers calls it joining the corporate pressure campaign on public enforcers and a 'false choice' for workers; the mayor says the city cannot afford prolonged uncertainty
Ink = the flip (fiction). Red = real Republican · Blue = real Democrat.
FORT WORTH — Mayor Parker, who earlier said she opposed the $110 billion merger of two of the five largest studios unless it preserved jobs, has now urged the state's attorney general to stop fighting it in court and negotiate a settlement, citing the uncertainty the lawsuit creates for the workers she previously cited as the reason to fight it.
The suit, filed by a dozen state attorneys general, alleges the combination would raise prices, shrink the number of films released to theaters and reduce quality. The mayor's statement said time was of the essence and that any resolution must put workers at the center — a sentence the writers' guild read aloud and then answered with a statement of its own.
The guild said it was disappointed that the mayor had chosen to join the acquiring company's pressure campaign on public enforcers, that the merger was being rightly challenged as illegal, and that workers were being offered a false choice between the possibility of a job today and the certainty of job losses tomorrow. A county report had estimated the deal would cost thousands of jobs, which is the figure the mayor's earlier position was built on and the mayor's current position is built around.
Supporters of Mayor Parker called it pragmatism in a town that needs production to start. Opponents called it a mayor who discovered the workers' interests and the studio's interests were identical at roughly the moment the studio said so. The Press's merger desk notes that 'standing up for workers' and 'carrying water for a conglomerate' are the same press release, filed under different parties.
"This is not about taking sides," the mayor said, from the side she had moved to.
At press time the attorney general had said any settlement would require structural remedies, the guild had said it would require a different mayor, and the folding chair bearing the mayoral seal had been carried across the studio lot and set down, facing the other way.
📜 The Receipts
What actually happened: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass urged California Attorney General Rob Bonta to negotiate a settlement in the 12-state antitrust suit against Paramount's roughly $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying 'we cannot afford prolonged uncertainty' and that any deal must put workers at the center — after earlier saying she opposed the merger unless jobs were preserved. The Writers Guild of America said it was 'disappointed that Mayor Bass has chosen to join Paramount's pressure campaign on public enforcers' and called the jobs argument a 'false choice'; a county report had estimated thousands of job losses. Bonta said a settlement would require 'robust structural remedies.'