The Writers Guild of America sued Paramount Skydance on Tuesday, alleging that the company’s planned $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery violates federal antitrust law. The union said that with fewer competitors, the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery business would be able to lower costs by reducing writers’ wages and work.

“Writers will be paid less and have fewer employment opportunities,” the WGA said in its lawsuit.

The move comes a day after California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general who filed a federal lawsuit to block Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Bonta has separately asked a judge in San Francisco for a temporary restraining order to hold up the deal while his case is pending in court.

“We feel we have a very strong case,” Bonta said Tuesday during a town hall meeting. “This proposed merger will raise prices. It will lower quality. It will reduce output. It will hurt the American people, and it’ll hurt the economy and competition.”

The writers guild’s missive creates a second line of attack against tech scion David Ellison’s industry-reshaping deal.

Ellison’s proposed merger has been moving closer to the finish line after securing approvals from the U.S. Justice Department and numerous other foreign governments. President Trump, an ally of Ellison’s billionaire father Larry Ellison, favors the deal.

Paramount, in a statement, defended the merger.

“A combined Paramount-WBD will have the scale and resources to reverse the current trends in our industry and expand opportunities for writers, not shrink them: more development slates, more series and film greenlights, and our continued strong commitment to working with the guild’s writers across our brands,” Paramount said.

Paramount Chairman David Ellison has promised to continue to release 30 films a year — the combined current output of the two separate film studios.

Ellison wants to close the deal by September to avoid a higher payout to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders.

The proposed merger has sparked fears in Hollywood that it would bring thousands of job losses— similar to past consolidations, including Walt Disney Co.’s 2019 takeover of Fox entertainment properties, which resulted in the loss of more than 4,000 jobs.

“The Writers Guild of America will not stand idly by as Paramount attempts to violate our country’s antitrust laws and deepen the contraction entertainment workers already feel,” said Writers Guild of America East President Tom Fontana in a statement.

“This proposed combined entity would be the largest employer of writers, with tremendous power to suppress our wages, eliminate opportunities for emerging writers, cut jobs across the industry, and produce less programming, affecting the range of storytelling,” Fontana said, adding “this merger is not inevitable and we are fighting to stop it.”

Paramount, in its statement, noted its “deep respect for the WGA and its members, as evidenced by our commitments in our recently renewed collective bargaining agreement” with the union.

“We remain committed to building a combined company that expands opportunities for writers and creative talent for generations to come,” Paramount said. “The alternative to our transaction is a continued decline of the entertainment industry increasingly dominated by big tech companies.”

©2026 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.