Newsom Fought to Save California Jobs From Paramount. The Deal Doesn't Require a Single One to Stay.
California UndergroundSeptember 29, 202600:00:00

Newsom Fought to Save California Jobs From Paramount. The Deal Doesn't Require a Single One to Stay.

California's attorney general sued to block a $111 billion media merger — then approved it after his own governor picked up the phone. The settlement is being sold as a win for California jobs. It doesn't actually require a single one of those jobs to be in California. This week on California Underground: the real story behind the Paramount-Warner Bros. settlement, what an 11-point poll swing and a police-funding vote reveal about the LA mayor's race, and why California Democrats are cooling on both Newsom and Harris for 2028.

We cover three stories every week with documents, filings, and the receipts other coverage skips. This episode: how Gov. Newsom, LA Mayor Karen Bass, and Xavier Becerra personally pressured AG Rob Bonta to fold on the Paramount/Warner Bros. antitrust case — and how the "jobs protection" everyone fought for only requires U.S. production, not California production, with no requirement Paramount's headquarters even stay here; how Nithya Raman's 11-point lead over Karen Bass sits next to a City Council vote against LAPD Olympic security funding two weeks earlier; and how a new Politico/UC Berkeley poll on 2028 Democratic enthusiasm connects to a governor whose PAC has bought its way onto bestseller lists before.

California Underground airs every Tuesday at 8PM PST on YouTube.

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california politics, california news, california underground, gavin newsom, rob bonta,