The fate of a $110 billion merger will shape the next decade of the business. TheGrill 2026 brings two speakers at the center of it to the DGA Theater on Sept. 30 – first the state official who sued to stop the year’s defining transaction, then the executive defending it.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has become the single most consequential figure in Hollywood’s biggest deal and a test of how far states can push as federal antitrust enforcement narrows.
In July, Bonta led a coalition of 12 state attorneys general in suing to block Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, weeks after the Justice Department closed its own review without objection. The states won an early restraining order and an agreement that keeps the deal from closing until a merits ruling or June 2027, whichever comes first, with trial set for March.
At TheGrill, the state AG will take a deep dive into what continued consolidation means for studios, theaters, distributors and the people who work in film and television, and where regulation of the industry goes next.
Makan Delrahim, Chief Legal Officer of Paramount Skydance, takes the transaction apart from the other side of the table. Delrahim came to Paramount from Latham & Watkins, where he advised Skydance throughout its acquisition of Paramount Global, and before that served as the 35th Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division – the office now reviewing the kinds of deals on which he once ruled. During his tenure, he cleared Disney’s $71 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox and brought the government’s challenge to AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner.
During the event, Delrahim will cover how the WBD deal came together, what the government’s scrutiny actually turns on, and what a combined company would mean for studios, streaming and the people who work with them.
A transaction of this size would fold two of the industry’s largest studio and streaming operations into one company, and the regulatory review around it will set the terms for every deal that follows. Hearing the argument from both directions in a single afternoon is about as close as the industry gets to seeing the case laid out in full.
They join a lineup of powerhouse speakers:
- Adam Aron — Chairman & CEO, AMC Entertainment
- Jason Robins, CEO & Co-Founder, DraftKings
- Adam Fogelson — Chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group
- Harry Sloan, Chairman & CEO, Eagle Equity Partners LLC
- Eduardo Acuna — CEO, Regal Global Entertainment
- Kim Larson — Managing Director & Head of Creator and Gaming Team, YouTube
- Jo Cronk — Co-CEO, Whalar
- Kevin Goetz — Entertainment Strategist & CEO, Screen Engine
- Yves Bergquist — AI Researcher, Entertainment Technology Center, USC
- Jason Zada — AI Filmmaker
TheGrill will be at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 30. As a bonus, your ticket also gets you into AI Creator Day on Sept. 29. One ticket. Two days. Full program and seats here.
