Plus, news outlets sue Trump over White House ban. Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.
Page F2From§Eachthe early evening edition — 21 September 2026
States drop $110 billion merger suit for minor concessions; Ellison thanks the governor who warned of job losses
As it ran on the front
You will want to know what twelve attorneys general bought with an antitrust lawsuit, because they have spent it now and it does not come back. They bought a press conference. Forty-five minutes of one, given by Rob Bonta himself, and the merger it announced proceeds at its full hundred and ten billion dollars. Minor concessions, the settlement carries. Minor.
You are thinking that a settlement is a kind of win. It is not. Nothing is found, nothing is admitted, and a plaintiff who settles has agreed to stop asking the question in the one room where answers are compulsory.…
…(cont) On the nineteenth of September the company was discussing measures to protect the editorial independence of CNN, and the divestiture of Comedy Central — divestiture, a property put out of the house to keep the house.
David Ellison thanked the governor. By name, and on the day. The Post has Newsom warning that California employment could suffer if the merger were blocked in court, and the deciding factor in Bonta's decision ... was political pressure.
CNN and CBS News pass to a group chosen by the conglomerate's board of directors.
Two newsrooms. The buyer picks the oversight.
Good faith, they called it. Thirty pieces of silver, a man still owes.
“Twelve attorneys general had a hundred-and-ten-billion-dollar deal on the hook in federal court and walked away with "minor concessions" — that is the phrase, that is what they got. Then the buyer stands up and thanks the governor who had been out there warning about California jobs, which tells you who was actually working the case. And the people who will oversee CNN and CBS News now get picked by the board of the company that bought them.”
“Nobody caved, settlements are how serious adults close out litigation, and Bonta gave a forty-five-minute press conference about it — you do not hold a press conference about losing. Did I say losing? That is not a word I would use, I did not say that. And a governor talking about California employment is not pressure, that is a governor doing the job, and there is an oversight board at CNN now, so.”
The receipts
Few seem totally satisfied by the settlement that will let Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery move forward.
Seeking to settle a lawsuit with 12 states, Paramount has discussed measures to protect the editorial independence of CNN and the divestiture of Comedy Central.
A 45-minute press conference was held by Bonta today to unveil the news.
The looming ownership of the network by David Ellison has caused anxiety in its newsroom for months.
The settlement will place CNN and CBS News under control of a group chosen by the conglomerate’s board of directors.
Newsom had reportedly warned that California employment could suffer if the merger was blocked in court, while Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison specifically thanked the governor after the settlement was announced.
The deciding factor in California Attorney General Rob Bonta's decision to settle with Paramount and allow its purchase of WBD with minor concessions was political pressure.
By resolving a lawsuit filed by a group of states, the media mogul David Ellison removed the last major hurdle he faced in buying Warner Bros. Discovery.
US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday joined a growing chorus of critics angered by the Federal Communications Commission's approval of foreign investment in the company that would be created if Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery are allowed to merge.
Paramount's agreement with 12 state attorneys general paves the way for the company to complete its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
· DOJ says states should post ‘proper bond’ in Paramount-Warner Bros. merger case from the morgue, 16 Sep 2026
· New Jersey attorney general drives wedge between state leaders over Paramount merger lawsuit from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· California’s war on Paramount continues the state’s self-sabotage from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· California AG Rob Bonta talks tough on Paramount, but says he’s ‘open’ to settlement talks if they’re ‘sincere’ from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Paramount’s relocation to result in $10 billion to $20 billion economic loss in California: Report from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.