Paramount promises more jobs. L.A. County models 10,365 job-years at risk.

The Aug. 18, 2026 report from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity models $1.26 billion in lost wages if the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery deal closes.

Los Angeles County's economists put $2.78 billion in lost economic value on a combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. Of that total, $1.26 billion is lost wages, in an Aug. 18, 2026 report presented to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

The study came from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and CVL Economics. It counts employment in "job-years" — one job performed over one year — and sorts the risk into three tiers, the outlet reported:

• 4,500 job-years directly at risk across corporate, creative and production work
• 2,661 job-years indirectly at risk at prop houses, transportation companies and caterers
• 3,204 induced job-years at restaurants, florists and other retailers that bill the studios

Those three tiers add to 10,365 job-years. They are modeled projections, not announced cuts. The people inside the model live and work here, and the county is asking the question now because the deal's antitrust fight is already running.

Modeled, not committed

Nothing in the report identifies a disclosed headcount reduction. The company-side number that exists is a target: Paramount Skydance management has identified about $6 billion in "synergies," expected to come primarily from corporate in-house roles, streaming technology, cloud systems, procurement and real estate, the outlet reported.

The county's other projected totals are $4.06 billion in lost business output and a $547 million dip in overall tax revenue. Local taxes account for $78.6 million of that, according to the report.

The baseline is already low. Average motion picture employment in Los Angeles County hit a nadir in 2025 at 93,263 jobs, down nearly 36 percent from 2022, the report found. California has lost 52,016 entertainment jobs since 2022, with more than 99 percent of that coming from the county.

The comp the report runs

The study authors reach for the 2019 Disney-Fox merger, which is the comparison nobody in the room wants run. Fox's releases declined nearly 65 percent afterward, the report says, while peer companies trimmed their slates by around 26 percent. The two merging companies have relationships with an estimated 895 creators and handle around 25.7 percent of all overall deals.

Paramount Skydance disputes the framing. A company spokesperson told the outlet the study underscores an industry in decline and the case for the deal.

"Our plan to invest $30 billion annually in production and release at least 30 films a year is how we regain that ground: more production that supports more jobs over time, and ultimately, a stronger, more durable entertainment industry for generations to come."

The report notes it remains unclear where those films would shoot, with no guarantee of Los Angeles or California. It points to Warner Bros.' campus at Leavesden in the United Kingdom, nearly 546,000 square feet, with an expansion expected in 2027 that would bring it close to the studio's Burbank capabilities. On the incentive ledger, the report says the United Kingdom can cost 5.73 percent more before incentives and still match California on net cost.

The clock

A ticking fee of roughly $7 million per day applies if the merger does not close by Oct. 1. The antitrust trial is currently scheduled for March 2027, the outlet reported.

The Writers Guild of America has filed its own lawsuit to block the deal, and SAG-AFTRA opposes it. The Directors Guild of America, IATSE and the theatrical trade group Cinema United have expressed qualms about the disruption of a prolonged antitrust trial. Paramount Skydance chief executive David Ellison has said he could pull one or both studios out of California if the deal does not close by October; California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the antitrust suit, called that "a Hail Mary" in an interview with the outlet.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com, retrieved August 20, 2026.