Paramount Skydance has reportedly decided to leave California for Nashville, Tennessee, according to a TMZ report cited by Breitbart News. The entertainment giant is said to be scouting roughly 400,000 square feet of office space in the business-friendly red state, though the timing of any formal announcement remains uncertain.
The reported move comes amid a standoff with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has been seeking to block Paramount’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. According to the TMZ report, internal discussions in the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office and the California Attorney General’s Office were told Paramount would announce its departure, but the announcement did not materialize as expected. “We do not know if circumstances changed or if there was just a delay,” the report stated.
Paramount chief David Ellison has previously mentioned Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee as potential landing spots should California refuse to agree to a settlement finalizing the merger. The company’s interest in Nashville signals that Tennessee may now be the frontrunner.
A Merger in Limbo
The merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has been approved in other jurisdictions, but Bonta has been aggressively pushing to stop it in California. In the view of Breitbart’s John Nolte, the merger is necessary for both companies to remain competitive against tech giants Apple, Meta, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. Without it, Nolte argues, Warner Bros. Discovery will inevitably be acquired by one of those larger players, causing far more disruption to the entertainment industry than a merger between two legacy studios.
Nolte also points to the 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney as evidence of inconsistency, noting that Bonta did not file a lawsuit to block that deal. He contends that Bonta’s opposition is driven by a desire to prevent changes at CNN, which is part of Warner Bros. Discovery. “If CNN were not a part of WBD, my guess is that this merger would already be approved,” Nolte wrote.
Ellison has expressed frustration with Bonta’s tactics, including what Nolte describes as finding a judge who will not hear both sides of the antitrust suit until March. Meanwhile, a ticking fee provision is set to begin on October 1, requiring Paramount to pay the Warner Bros. Discovery board $7 million per day until the merger is completed.
Financial Stakes
According to Ellison, moving to Nashville would save Paramount $500 million annually. That figure accounts for combined tax incentives, Tennessee’s lack of a state income tax on wages, and the lower overall cost of living and doing business. Nolte notes that these savings would dwarf the cost of the ticking fee, even if the merger takes months to finalize. Should the merger go through and Ellison relocate Warner Bros. Discovery to Nashville as well, the annual savings would grow substantially.
The potential departure carries significant consequences for California. Nolte estimates thousands, if not tens of thousands, of job losses, along with $10 billion to $20 billion in lost annual economic output. Subsidiary businesses that depend on Paramount’s spending would also feel the impact. Additionally, the move would deal a reputational blow to the state, sending a message to other corporations and potentially tarnishing Democrats—including Gov. Gavin Newsom, a possible presidential candidate—as incapable of governing.
All of this, Nolte concludes, would stem from Bonta’s concern that a merger might reduce what he characterizes as CNN’s misinformation. The report has not been independently confirmed by Paramount, and the company has not publicly commented on the timing of any announcement.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/09/17/nolte-report-says-paramount-to-flee-democrat-run-california-for-nashville/