Paramount employees don't expect CEO David Ellison to uproot the company from California.
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Reports that David Ellison is considering moving Paramount Skydance out of California have caused a thunderous round of commentary in the media world. Inside the company, employees say they have bigger concerns.Nine Paramount employees who spoke with Business Insider said they weren't worried about the company's potential move, either because they didn't think it was likely or because they're based elsewhere.Instead, they said they are more focused on what would happen to their jobs if and when Paramount's $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery goes through.One employee said they breathed a "small sigh of relief" when Paramount's merger with WBD was put on pause because of an antitrust case from 12 states. They said they feel "mostly secure" in their job until at least March, when the trial is scheduled to begin.Still, they added that they're "trying to come up with Plan B, just in case."'Another deliberate pressure tactic'Ellison has told Paramount's leadership that he's considering setting up shop in Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, or elsewhere if California AG Rob Bonta isn't willing to negotiate a settlement of the antitrust lawsuit that has paused the deal by October, Puck News reported this week.A Paramount spokesperson referred Business Insider to comments made by Makan Delrahim, the company's chief legal officer, at a Politico event on Tuesday. Delrahim said "some of the internal conversations were leaked" about Ellison's plan to leave California and said that the company is "certainly at the point where we are considering those factors."
