announced that she led 34 California Members of Congress in expressing support for California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s review of the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance... urged him to closely analyze its potential effects
Will support California Attorney General Rob Bonta's independent, thorough review of the proposed Paramount-Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and urge scrutiny of its effects on workers and consumers.
Occurrences
Rep. Friedman Leads 34 California Members of Congress in Supporting Attorney General Bonta’s Review of Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger
Evidence
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"Today, May 7, 2026, U.S. Congresswoman Laura Friedman (CA-30) announced that she led 34 California Members of Congress in expressing support for California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s review of the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance." The release says the lawmakers "expressed concern that the merger could harm California workers and consumers" and urged Bonta to "closely analyze its potential effects."
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Friedman said she was discussing "the proposed $110 billion Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger" and local job loss. She said, "We've lost 40% of our production jobs in three years, one-third of our soundstages are sitting empty, and now a $110 billion merger is threatening to gut even more jobs." The release also says she and Sen. Schiff had sent a joint letter to Netflix and Paramount demanding commitments to preserve and expand film and television jobs in Los Angeles.
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The article reports that Bonta said, "My office has an open investigation into [the deal] and we intend to be vigorous in our review." It also says he outlined concerns including consolidation of streaming services and "potentially higher prices and lower wages."
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Friedman's office said the court halt followed her May 7 action leading 34 California House members in thanking Attorney General Rob Bonta for a full review and urging independent analysis of the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Friedman added that workers, consumers, local jobs, and livelihoods required rigorous scrutiny.
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During the lookback window, MyNewsLA reported that Bonta said no settlement talks were scheduled after canceling a Paramount meeting, that California and 11 other attorneys general had filed the July antitrust suit, and that an agreement bars Paramount and Warner Bros. from completing the transaction until June 1, 2027 or a court decision, with trial scheduled for March 2027.
Assessments
The promised action was to support Attorney General Rob Bonta's independent review and urge scrutiny of worker and consumer impacts, not necessarily to block or complete the merger review. During her current House term, Friedman led 34 California Members of Congress in a May 7, 2026 letter supporting Bonta's review and asking him to closely analyze effects on California workers and consumers. Later statements reaffirmed that position. The underlying merger litigation remains unresolved, but the specific oversight promise was fulfilled.
Friedman publicly led support for Attorney General Rob Bonta’s review of the Paramount-Skydance/Warner Bros. Discovery deal and explicitly urged scrutiny of its effects on workers and consumers, which matches the pledge.
The promise was to support Attorney General Rob Bonta's independent review of the proposed Paramount-Skydance/Warner Bros. Discovery transaction and urge scrutiny of effects on workers and consumers. Official evidence from May 7, 2026 states that Rep. Laura Friedman led 34 California House members in expressing support for Bonta's review and specifically urged close analysis of harms to workers and consumers. That matches the promised action directly. Additional March 2026 evidence shows related advocacy on merger-related job impacts, reinforcing that she acted consistently on the issue. Because this was a promise to support and urge scrutiny, not to control the ultimate merger outcome, her documented public leadership satisfies the pledge.