Leaked Report Details Fallout if Paramount Follows Through on California Exit Threat - The Hollywood Reporter

A leaked report commissioned by Paramount and produced by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation's Institute for Applied Economics warns that a California exit could cost the state up to 58,000 jobs and as much as $21 billion annually in economic output.
The findings surface amid the ongoing legal fight over the $110 billion Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which a coalition of state attorneys general, led by California's Rob Bonta, is trying to block on antitrust grounds.
Paramount-Skydance is negotiating against an Oct. 1 deadline: if the deal hasn't closed by then, a "ticking fee" kicks in that pays Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders $7 million a day.
The company's threat to relocate the studio to Georgia, Tennessee or Texas has been a central negotiating tactic and has sparked industry-wide backlash; the report estimates permanent losses of roughly 28,990 to 57,980 full-time job-years and $10.6 billion to $21.2 billion in annual output.
A post-merger pledge to produce 30 features a year for three years would generate a comparatively modest 1,020 to 2,760 job-years and up to about $1.01 billion in output through September 2031.
The report, leaked Saturday by Politico, also cautions that converting Warner Bros.' soundstages to commercial or residential use would permanently strip California of century-old infrastructure supporting vendors, crews and post-production facilities, in a state whose GDP ranges from about $4.1 trillion to $4.4 trillion.