Political money trail shadows California's lone stand on Paramount-Warner deal
With regulators in Britain and the United States federal government having cleared the $110 billion Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, California now stands as the deal's last obstacle. Campaign-finance records…
Key takeaways
- California is the last obstacle to the $110 billion Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after regulators in Britain and the U.S. federal government cleared the deal.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who leads a 12-state federal lawsuit to block the merger, faces calls for an independent investigation over a traced political donation.
- Campaign-finance records show Patty Quillin, wife of Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, gave $1 million to Smart Justice California Action Fund on March 16, 2022, which then sent $150,000 to a committee backing Bonta's 2022 re-election.
- Bonta's office rejects the allegation, saying the lawsuit resulted from clear-cut antitrust analysis based on the facts and the law.
- The U.S. Justice Department, after an eight-month review of more than two million documents, found the transaction unlikely to harm competition and potentially able to create a stronger streaming rival.
With regulators in Britain and the United States federal government having cleared the $110 billion Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, California now stands as the deal's last obstacle. Campaign-finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital are adding pressure to that position: California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who leads a 12-state federal lawsuit to block the merger, faces calls for an independent investigation after a $1 million donation from Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings' wife was traced through a political committee that later backed Bonta's 2022 re-election campaign.
The money trail
Campaign-finance records show Patty Quillin, wife of Reed Hastings, contributed $1 million to Smart Justice California Action Fund on March 16, 2022. That committee then sent $150,000 to Communities for Justice Supporting Rob Bonta for Attorney General 2022 on May 4 of that year. Fox News Digital had reported in 2022 that Smart Justice was working to boost Bonta and other progressive prosecutors.
Republican attorney general nominee Michael Gates told Fox News Digital the financial link warranted a formal investigation. Gates said Bonta was "pursuing politically-motivated litigation against a competitor for a company that's bankrolled his PAC" and called the conduct "an all-too-common pattern" that "reeks of corruption." California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin said the circumstances "smells like Sacramento at its worst" and raised the question of whether the lawsuit served consumer protection or "another political favor." California GOP delegate and attorney Elizabeth Barcohana called the suit on social media "a corrupt political favor to Netflix to protect its streaming monopoly."
Bonta's office rejects the allegation
The attorney general's press office said the lawsuit "resulted from clear cut antitrust analysis, based on the facts and the law." It noted the office had opened an inquiry in February 2026 into the Warner Bros. purchase by either Netflix or Paramount before concluding a lawsuit was necessary. The statement did not address Fox News Digital's questions about communications with Netflix, Hastings or Quillin, whether Bonta considered recusal, or whether the office disputed the campaign-finance figures.
Where the deal and the legal fight stand
The Justice Department reached a different conclusion after an eight-month review of more than two million documents. Federal antitrust officials found the transaction unlikely to harm competition and said it could create a stronger streaming rival to Netflix, Amazon and Disney. Bonta's complaint put the combined company's share of wide-release theatrical film distribution and basic-cable channel licensing at approximately 27%.
Against the backdrop of cleared federal and British regulatory hurdles, Bonta's state-led litigation carries a read-through for the broader media deal environment: state attorneys general retain standing to challenge transactions that have already passed federal antitrust review, extending deal uncertainty well past initial approvals. Britain's competition regulator cleared the acquisition Thursday. Paramount agreed not to close until five days after a ruling on the merits of June 2027, with a federal trial scheduled for March.
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