Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times,
Paramount Skydance could be the next major company to leave California as the media giant faces intensifying antitrust scrutiny over its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Makan Delrahim, Paramount’s top legal officer, said the Los Angeles-based company is “committed” to staying in California.
But he also noted that the company has “a fiduciary duty to shareholders.”
“You have to take a look at the business environment and look to see what’s best for not only the community and the business,” he said at Politico’s The California Agenda: Sacramento Summit on Aug. 12.
“And ultimately, you know, go to the place where you’re wanted.”
In recent years, scores of American companies - including SpaceX, X, Chevron, and Oracle - have shifted their headquarters or operations out of California and into other states. KB Home, Public Storage, Yamaha Motor, and D-Wave Quantum have been the latest businesses to relocate.
Paramount secured its $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year, beating Netflix for the acquisition of the legacy entertainment empire. Warner Bros. shareholders approved the offer in April.
But Paramount chose last month to pause its acquisition in the face of litigation from California and 11 other state attorneys general to block the merger. According to a court filing, both sides agreed to suspend the merger until June 2027 or until a judge rules on the case.
The states say they believe Paramount would obtain too much power over the news, entertainment, and sports media industry by acquiring Warner Bros.
“From the workers and artists who bring stories to life to the families who buy tickets at the box office, Paramount’s illegal takeover of Warner Bros. is a bad deal for all those who count on a competitive entertainment industry,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a July 24 statement.
“Halting this merger while our case proceeds is a critical victory in our efforts to uphold the law and protect the film and television industries. I look forward to continuing our case to stop this illegal merger.”
Paramount/Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison has pushed back against these claims, writing in an op-ed for The New York Times earlier this month that he does not aspire to lead these companies “to bend their newsrooms” to his views.
“I believe this fight is not really about market share,” Ellison wrote.
“I believe a plainer worry sits beneath the briefs and the news releases: the news. The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN. There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions.”
Delrahim says the legal efforts are harming employment opportunities.
“This merger is actually going to be good—not only for California—it’ll be good for America,” he said.
“I would love to see every policymaker who cares about jobs, who cares about high-paying jobs, who cares about union jobs—in California—speak on this merger.”
While the deal is enduring regulatory hurdles domestically, Paramount has received approval from the UK, the European Union, and other foreign markets.
New York Attorney General Letitia James leaves the Walter E. Hoffman United States Courthouse following an arraignment hearing in Norfolk, Va., on Oct. 24, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty Images
Despite U.S. legal challenges, Warner Bros. is confident that Paramount’s buyout will close.
“We have every expectation the transaction will close, and the company will be performing even better than the plan that we presented to [Paramount] when we did our deal,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during an Aug. 6 earnings call with analysts.
Market SkepticismShares of Paramount rose by about 0.6 percent midweek, but they are still down more than 28 percent year-to-date, trading at less than $10.
Wall Street analysts have turned bearish on the stock, with a consensus “reduce” rating, according to MarketBeat. Weiss Ratings was the latest firm to have a “sell” rating. Several firms lowered their targets to “sell,” “hold,” or “underperform.”
Market analyst Gary Gambino said that although he is confident the deal will close, the true challenge will be whether Paramount can deliver on its proposed $6 billion in synergies.
“At least some of this must be achieved to be successful, as both companies are struggling today on a stand-alone basis with their declining TV network businesses mostly offsetting growing streaming revenues,” Gambino said in a research note.
“If no synergies are delivered the current PSKY price is probably fair, but with all $6 billion of synergies, the shares would be worth close to $23.”
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 12:00Far-left influencer Hasan Piker's China-based producer, Eric Hovagim, who also worked on socialist Zohran Mamdani's campaign, has said on recent podcasts and streams that he wants to "ban the American stock market" and has boasted about his relationship with a known Beijing-based propagandist waging an informational war on the US.
Hovagim discussed his close friendship with China-based Marxist billionaire Roy Singham, whose network of revolutionary NGOs has been accused of promoting pro-Beijing and communist propaganda through what some describe as a possible foreign subversion network.
Taken together, these revolutionary comments from Hovagim merely point to a far-left agenda, suggesting that the Democratic Socialists of America are not truly focused on affordability, Palestine, climate change, opposition to data centers, or whatever the hottest issue of the day may be. Instead, they appear more focused on dismantling the foundations of America's capitalist system.
Stu Smith of the Manhattan Institute wrote on X:
Hasan Piker's China-Based Producer Wants to "Communize the United States"
I don't think it has fully sunk in that Hasan Piker employs a China-based producer who helps make his content and produce his interviews, is an open China apologist, worked on Zohran Mamdani campaign videos, and says he wants to "communize the United States of America."
He says Chinese surveillance has made his life materially better, calls much criticism of Beijing American propaganda, says there has never been a good U.S. president, wants the New York Stock Exchange abolished, and openly wonders whether America needs "a whole new system."
🚨 Hasan Piker’s China-Based Producer Wants to “Communize the United States”
I don’t think it has fully sunk in that Hasan Piker employs a China-based producer who helps make his content and produce his interviews, is an open China apologist, worked on Zohran Mamdani campaign… pic.twitter.com/QT8drxVUks
On another stream, Hovagim told his followers: "I'm friends with Roy Singham. He's dope."
Hovagim laughed off the idea that Singham has secret ties to the Communist Party of China, before acknowledging that Singham "is friends with a lot of them."
Hovagim boasted about his ties with Singham's wife, Code Pink cofounder Jodie Evans. He called her "f**king dope."
"Texted her when the Treasury subpoenas arrived… She told me not to worry because they do this shit to us literally all the time," Hovagim said, referring to Jodie Evans, Code Pink cofounder, getting subpoenaed for a trip to Cuba to visit the communist in Havana.
Hovagim continued to boast about his Singham ties, saying, "The whole squad out here, we all know him."
He then praises Evans as "the real deal," citing her relationships with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, and Nicolás Maduro's son.
Manhattan Institute analyst Smith commented, "The most revealing part may be how ordinary all of this appears within Hovagim's social and political world. Singham is not described as a distant donor or shadowy figure. He is a friend whom "the whole squad" knows, while Evans is someone Hovagim can text directly when subpoenas arrive."
🚨 Hasan Piker’s Producer Says “The Whole Squad” Knows Roy Singham, Admits Singham Is “Friends With a Lot” of Chinese Communist Party Members
This is Eric Hovagim, a producer and researcher for Hasan Piker, discussing his personal friendship with billionaire activist funder Roy… pic.twitter.com/S312gpMpei
Foreign policy investigator Adam Kredo of The Washington Free Beacon revealed earlier this week that Arc of Justice, a nonprofit operated by Code Pink cofounder Medea Benjamin, was ordered to cease operations after years of missing tax filings and unanswered questions about what happened to $51 million in reported assets.
"The silence from Arc of Justice raises unanswered questions about a foundation that has long served as the financial backbone for a network of radical advocacy groups tied to Benjamin and her Code Pink cofounder, Jodie Evans," Kredo wrote in the report.
Far-left extremist Hasan Piker & Jodie Evans in Cuba: It's all one big network of radicals ...
Fox News' Asra Nomani recently broke the story that Singham is at the center of a Justice Department criminal probe: A federal grand jury is investigating China-based tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham over alleged financial improprieties involving $278 million that investigators say moved through his financial network over the past decade.
FIRST ON FOX: A federal grand jury is investigating China-based tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham over alleged financial improprieties involving $278 million that investigators say moved through his financial network over the past decade.
Federal investigators are examining… pic.twitter.com/cqqt9QthU6
Interesting https://t.co/HHh8RcM3gI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 29, 2026Risk intelligence platform Sayari shows Evan is Arc of Justice's registered agent and serves as the bridge to a broader network of entities, including:
The chart's main takeaway is that Arc of Justice is connected through Evans to several far-left Code Pink-related and other nonprofit or corporate entities.
According to investigative reports (e.g., New York Times, 2023), Singham has worked closely with pro-CCP propaganda networks targeting the US.
From NYT:
What is less known, and is hidden amid a tangle of nonprofit groups and shell companies, is that Mr. Singham works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide.
From a think tank in Massachusetts to an event space in Manhattan, from a political party in South Africa to news organizations in India and Brazil, The Times tracked hundreds of millions of dollars to groups linked to Mr. Singham that mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.
Bitcoin Policy Institute documented one of those alleged Singham foreign influence operations:
The takeaway is that the socialist movement in America wants to destroy the nation from within, which could be linked to foreign subversion networks operating within the nonprofit sphere:
Related:
...and Bernie Sanders and much of the Democratic Party have welcomed these socialists and Marxists into the party's coalition. That embrace has become an absolute gold mine for opposition-research teams on the GOP side, which can draw on a steady stream of inflammatory statements from socialists and other far-left revolutionaries whose views remain far outside mainstream American opinion.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 11:40* * *
Attack on Saudi Aramco Facility Sees Crude SpikeOil prices have spiked Thursday on emerging reports that the Houthis have freshly targeted an Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia's Jizan with two drones, according to regional Saba News Agency.
It seems this is part of Iran's 'counter-pressure' playing book against Washington and its Gulf allies, given the Houthis have long been a proxy arm of Iran. The Houthi group is in the midst of a 'siege for siege' war on Saudi shipping and energy.
The Hormuz stalemate is meanwhile continuing, given War Secretary Pete Hegseth now says that the US military can maintain a blockade on Iranian ports for as long as needed.
“Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we’ll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we’ll continue to,” Hegseth told reporters. But Iran is also vowing to outlast and keep up the military pressure, enforcing its own strait management protocol based on the Oman deal.
Attrition Game Outlasting US PoliticsTop adviser to the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, has been signaling Iran's more aggressive stance in media appearances this week, also following a significant reshuffling of top military leadership.
"Look, we have to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security," Naqdi said in an interview with PBS. "One way is to prolong this war until we get to the next term of the presidency and cause attrition, so that if anyone else wants to attack Iran, they will know there is a cost."
Alluding to the recent military reorganization, he described: "Whenever the conditions are favorable and the order is issued, we must be able to take the operation into enemy territory" - while contrasting the approach with a pre-war doctrine "primarily based on defense and the preservation of the country."
via The AustralianMilitary.com underscores that "Iran has reorganized its military to be more aggressive abroad as talks on ending the war with the U.S. remain mired in stalemate, a sign that Tehran is preparing for a protracted era of regional conflict."
As a reminder, this is after Tehran's obvious pivot away from negotiations, and toward a more permanent state of military resistance. The Wall Street Journal previously pointed out: "Now, the new supreme leader, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, is putting his own stamp on the country’s national-security policy amid a confrontation with the U.S. that could last months or even years."
"Seasoned Hardliners" in CommandAccording to more of the analysis:
In a sweeping overhaul of the government’s top echelon on Sunday and Monday, Iran named seasoned hard-liners to run the country’s security policies and institutions of repression.
It marked the most significant government reshuffle under Mojtaba Khamenei, who hasn’t been seen in public since the war began. U.S. intelligence agencies say he is alive but severely injured, and top Iranian cabinet members say they have never met him since he took office. Iranian officials say he was injured but in good health.
Analysts said the appointments signaled Khamenei’s determination to hold fast in a showdown with President Trump, who is seeking concessions on Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz.
“The regime is preparing for a more confrontational posture at home and abroad,” said Kasra Aarabi, an expert on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful paramilitary force, at United Against Nuclear Iran, a policy organization that opposes Iran’s government.
And some fresh insight from Michael Stephens, a senior associate fellow at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI):
Nearly six months since the beginning of the war, Iran is now convinced that the US is not willing to conduct a ground invasion. “That existential threat is gone,” Stephens said. “So they want to up the tempo and maybe make the pain a little bit more acute for President Trump. And the best way to do that is to drag this out.”
Prior to the US-Israeli attack on February 28, the widely held belief was that the Iranian government would readily collapse, after enduring months of civil disobedience and unrest during major demonstrations in late December and January.
“That doesn’t seem to be the case now, and I’m not really sure the US has any tools in the bag to force the regime to do what they want,” the analyst said. Iranians can “live in this stalemate at the moment – it hurts them, but it’s not existential, and I think that’s the problem the US has now”.
Iranian leadership continues boasting of squaring up against the much larger American foe...
❗️ Iran says the US military is weaker than expected
“The longer this war continues, the more experience we gain.
We have never had a war like this to gain real experience and learn how to fight America.
Over these five months, we have learned this. We have also seen that the… pic.twitter.com/Yfz5T2pIkj
In follow-up, and as if confirming all of the above, Iranian Brigadier General Rasoul Sanaei-Rad has on Thursday said Iran will act more aggressively in the future, the Fars news agency reported.
"We stood firm in the recent war and, God willing, we will stand firmer and more aggressively in a possible future war," said Sanaei-Rad, a political adviser in the office of the supreme leader. He noted that Iran’s "enemy" is seeking to fracture the country through economic pressure, but that its plan did not succeed.
Below: Mohsen Rezaei, one of the longest-serving figures in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has returned to the heart of Tehran’s national security establishment, after Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed him secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mohsen Rezaei, via ReutersIran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also chimed on in on Thursday with a similar theme of Washington miscalculation. He asserted that the United States has "has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures," especially when launching its war on Iran.
American military actions in the Strait of Hormuz were "an even bigger miscalculation," Araghchi stated on X. "Worse than fake news is fake intelligence," the foreign minister said, perhaps in mockery of Trump.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/13/2026 - 11:40