Paramount is not leaving California — at least not anytime soon — and that includes both the company’s studio lot(s) and headquarters.
The settlement of the anti-trust lawsuit filed by 12 state attorneys general calls for the Paramount, which is set to acquire WBD shortly, to keep both the Paramount lot on Melrose and the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank for the next five years.
“We wanted those lots to be protected, they are part of the the broader solution, and I believe that the future of this merged company is in Los Angeles for many years to come for the foreseeable future,” California AG Rob Bonta said during his press conference about the settlement Monday morning.
Bonta was asked about the status of the Paramount headquarters, currently located in Los Angeles.
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“I believe that will be the case, that they will have their headquarters in California for the foreseeable future,” he said, adding, “It’s not part of the deal, I believe there will be public statements.”
There had been no public statements on the matter, and the fact that Paramount maintaining its headquarters in California was not part of the agreement raised a few eyebrows. Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison did not address it in his official reaction to the settlement or in his company memo Monday, the latter of which noted the combined company’s commitment to producing 30+ movies a year and expanding U.S. film production.
Hours later, he stepped in to clear the confusion.
“Let me be clear: the newly merged company will be headquartered in Los Angeles,” Ellison said in a new statement. “We aren’t going anywhere. Our history is here and this is where our future is being built.”
This brings to an end weeks of tension that culminated in an alleged ultimatum that Paramount would move its headquarters to Tennessee, Texas or Georgia if the anti-trust lawsuit filed by the state AGs was not settled by October 1 when a costly ticking fee to WBD was set to kick in.
Per the settlement’s consent decree, the bulked up post-merger Paramount “shall not sell or close the Paramount or Warner Bros. Lots and shall use commercially reasonable efforts to operate the Lots in a manner consistent with past practices, including leasing use to third parties and producing films and television shows.”
