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Political money trail shadows California's lone stand on Paramount-Warner deal

8/9/2026

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.

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