Paramount Skydance (PSKY) plans to isolate California AG Bonta politically to help secure approval for its Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger, NYP reports.

The reported strategy here follows that template: split the state AG from the governor's office, the legislature and municipal leadership, then offer a settlement that gives the AG an exit from a weak suit. The substantive tell in the sourcing is the alleged weakness of the antitrust case itself; deals that reach this kind of lobbying phase are usually ones where the legal exposure is priced as an annoyance rather than a genuine block. Settlement terms in prior episodes of this kind have tended to involve behavioural or employment commitments specific to the state, which are cheap relative to deal value, rather than structural remedies. Worth watching is whether California formally files or only threatens, since a complaint on the docket raises the cost of backing down, and whether the regulatory sequence, including any federal review, shifts the leverage back. As a single-source press report on political manoeuvring rather than a formal development, the signal is directional on approval odds rather than a change in deal mechanics.