Press Releases,
Letters & Media

Jeffrey Kessler, Paramount Skydance lead trial counsel and Winston Taylor partner and co-executive chairman, joins ‘Squawk on the Street’ to discuss the lawsuit from a group of 12 state attorneys general challenging the proposed Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, the regulatory scrutiny facing the proposed merger, and more.

The complaint filed by the state attorneys general in federal district court in the Northern District of California distorts settled antitrust law and is based on a misrepresentation of competition in the entertainment industry today. As numerous antitrust authorities around the world have already concluded after months of review, this transaction creates a stronger competitor against dominant streaming and technology platforms who have harmed the market for theatrical exhibition and jobs in the entertainment industry. This merger will create a company capable of investing more aggressively in premium content, theatrical releases, and creative talent at a time when those investments matter more than ever.

The Transaction’s positive impacts on organized labor flow naturally from the business logic that drives the underlying deal. Paramount wants to combine with WBD to create a stronger, more efficient competitor that will operate at scale and take on Netflix and the other streaming giants. Content is the “fuel” that drives Paramount’s ability to compete. Competing at scale will require Paramount to generate more content across its films, streaming, and linear television offerings. Paramount cannot enhance and expand content production without organized labor, and the Teamsters and other unions will stand as must-have partners for Paramount for years to come. More content means more work opportunities for organized labor of all types—writers, actors, directors, and other above-the-line talent, as well as drivers, location scouts, casting directors, catering professionals, mechanics, animal handlers, and the many other skilled workers who make productions possible.

The combined firm's strategy is to expand output and compete more effectively at scale. That strategy necessarily requires more productions, not fewer; larger and more diverse creative teams; and sustained engagement with our partners across unions, guilds, and independent talent […] The economic logic and our incentives to compete are straightforward: a firm seeking to grow market share against larger competitors (including the streaming giants) must invest in more and better content and talent not cut.

Paramount’s proposed merger with WBD will help drive meaningful improvements for movie theaters and their audiences. To compete more effectively with Netflix, and others leading services, a combined Paramount-WBD will need to capture audiences’ attention in fresh ways, and that includes broadening theatrical distribution to tap into the magic of the moviegoing experience and create momentum behind films before they reach streaming services. The combined Paramount and WBD thus will have every incentive to get more films into wider distribution on more movie theater screens—it is how it will compete for audiences across the entertainment ecosystem.