Ellison demands $1.9 billion bond in Warner merger fight Play

Malibu resident David Ellison is going ballistic against the state of California.

The Carbon Beach billionaire Monday asked a federal judge to order California, 11 other states and the Writers Guild of America to pay his company up to $1.9 billion for blocking his acquisition of the Warner Bros. Studio.

An antitrust lawsuit filed by California, 11 other states and the WGA is all that is standing in the way of Paramount Skydance absorbing Warner and its subsidiary companies.

Paramount warns that prolonged litigation could force it to have to pay a massive breakup payment, a ticking time bomb that kicks in this winter.

The states want a trial on their charges that the $111 billion merger is anticompetitive.

Monday, Ellison's lawyers raised the stakes. They want the federal courts to order California and other plaintiffs to post a bond that would cover some of its costs should the merger fall through.

These costs include "ticking fees" that Paramount agreed to — a promise to pay Warner shareholders should the deal stretch beyond its anticipated September close.

Ellison wants the states to post a $1.9 billion bond.

The Malibu resident is also threatening to move Paramount to Tennessee — or perhaps Texas — as early as this fall.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta calls it more blackmail from billionaires. Bonta says, "Paramount and Warner Bros. willfully decided to include a costly ticking fee in their merger contract. They knew this merger would undergo regulatory review; they knew it was not a done deal; and they chose to include it anyway."