On July 2, Tennessee officials reached out to Paramount CEO David Ellison, gauging his interest in relocating the studio’s corporate headquarters amid a rift with California over its $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery., The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time.
Ellison, having just migrated Paramount out of New York last year, didn’t consider this the optimal time for a move but needed a contingency plan so the numbers on the merger made more sense, according to a person familiar with the situation. A coalition of 12 state attorneys general was working up a lawsuit to block the deal. By Paramount’s thinking, it’d win at trial but there was real concern it’d have to pay the so-called $7 million-per-day ticking fee, which starts accruing on Oct. 1. And so, less than two weeks after it was presented, Ellison took Tennessee’s offer to the board at the urging of advisers in his circle to start the process of moving Paramount out of California if a settlement can’t be reached.
Last Tuesday, Ellison called to convene a meeting with senior leadership for the next day at the Paramount lot on Melrose, where the company is the last legacy studio with a presence in Hollywood. It was official: Paramount had entered exploratory talks to relocate corporate headquarters, perhaps to Tennessee, Texas or Georgia.
