As merger negotiations between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery continue amid litigation, Tennessee is once again wooing another corporate powerhouse from California.
Paramount has threatened to leave California if a lawsuit blocking its merger with Warner Bros. is not settled. Executives are expected to meet with state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s representatives next month for court-ordered settlement talks in the entertainment giant’s proposed $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Nashville, which has been luring California companies to the state capital in recent years, is considering its prospects for a Paramount relocation.
Three years ago, In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder announced plans to create an eastern regional headquarters south of Nashville in Franklin. Though the California-born hamburger chain maintains its corporate headquarters in Irvine, it’s transitioning Southern California operations back to its roots in Baldwin Park by 2029.
Oracle Corp., with familial ties to Paramount, also is relocating to Nashville. It left California for Austin, Texas in 2020.
The rumors of a Tennessee pivot for Paramount come while Bonta and 11 other Democratic attorney generals are suing to block the merger with Warner Bros.
The U.S. Justice Department wants the judge in the case to force California, the other states and the Writers Guild of America to post a $1.88 billion bond to cover fees Paramount would owe Warner Bros. shareholders if the deal isn’t finalized by Oct. 1.
A hearing is set for Thursday, Sept. 24, to decide whether California and the other parties must post the bond.
Paramount and Bonta representatives are meeting Oct. 14-15 to look for ways to resolve the impasse, according to documents filed with a magistrate judge in San Francisco in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
If the merger goes through, CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, HBO, TBS and the Paramount and Warner Bros studios would be placed under one roof.
Paramount’s Chief Executive Officer David Ellison told executives in early August that the move would involve headquarters staff first. An unidentified Bloomberg source told the news organization Ellison was putting together a five-year plan that would shift most of the film and TV studio’s jobs to the new home.
Moving an entertainment titan like Paramount out of Hollywood would cause economic reverberations throughout the region. A leaked report from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. outlines a loss of thousands of jobs if the company headquarters and other operations move out of state.
The report says the county could lose nearly $2 billion in economic output between Oct. 1, 2026, and Sept. 30, 2031, according to a Sept. 16 story by Politico.
Justin Adams, senior director with LAEDC’s Institute for Applied Economics, a research organization that studies the Southern California economy, said the leaked report is a confidential “internal memo” that is still in the process of being finalized for public release.
Paramount spokeswoman Melissa Zukerman declined to comment.
The pitches
While Tennessee and other states are beckoning Paramount to their states, it remains to be seen whether Paramount’s threats to leave are a bluff to force Bonta’s hand to drop the merger challenge.
Local chatter in Nashville indicates Paramount has been shopping for real estate, specifically half a million square feet of office space in the Tennessee capital, Nashville Councilman Jacob Kupin said in an interview with the Southern California News Group.
At a Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Duluth last month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declined to comment on whether Paramount would relocate to Georgia. “Why the hell would they want to stay in California?” he told the crowd.
Georgia has stated that film and television productions spent a combined $2 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2026.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote Sept. 16 that David Ellison met last month with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Film and television production in Texas is experiencing a major boom, driven by state funding and new studios.
Patrick did not respond to an email or phone call for comment.
“The Austin Film Commission has not been in communication with Paramount regarding a potential relocation or expanded presence,” wrote Brian Gannon, a spokesman for the trade group, in an email to SCNG. “That said, Texas is a top-tier destination for major media production.”
He explained that Austin has been home to 400-plus feature film productions, 25 television series and over 2,500 commercials shoots — which have in-directly generated $67.4 billion in total economic impact since 1986.
“It’s clear that Austin offers a competitive environment for continued industry growth,” said Gannon, who cited the state’s $1.5 billion film incentive investment as a major draw.
Tennessee also is making its case.
“It’s certainly a logical area for a company like Paramount to be,” said Kupin. “We’ve got a music city story. There are so many productions that have come here.”
More than 100 film and television productions are filmed across Tennessee each year, most of them centered in the Nashville area, according to the Nashville Film Institute, which attributes the economic rise to new tax incentives for the industries.
The case for the city was further bolstered last month when Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell established a new office of entertainment.
Kupin also said he’s learned that Paramount has reached out to a handful of real estate developers about building new offices in Nashville, but remains suspicious, asking whether this is “a bluff to get better support in California.”
Oracle connection
Nashville in the not-too-distant future will be home to Oracle’s new headquarters — a huge campus in Kupin’s district that also includes a new $2.1 billion indoor Nissan Stadium, currently under construction and scheduled to open next year.
Larry Ellison, executive chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle, is the father of David Ellison.
Designs have been finalized for the $4.5 billion Oracle base on a 1.3 million-square foot office campus along the Cumberland River — officially dubbed East Bank Development.
The company has committed to bring 8,500 jobs to the campus by 2031, according to a report in the Nashville Business Journal.
Oracle moved its headquarters out of Redwood City six years ago. It said in 2024 that it was headed to Music City.
“I could see the familial connection playing a role in Paramount’s move,” said Kupin. “I could certainly see a relative saying, ‘Well, hey, you’re already building a multibillion-dollar campus, do you mind if I scoot on in here with you. Is there room for one more?’ It would make logical sense.”
Nashville has been luring companies for years, offering tax incentives to West Coast companies looking to cut costs.
Kupin cited billionaire Carl Icahn’s sale last year of his long-held, 47-acre industrial scrap yard property across from the new football stadium project on Nashville’s East Bank to a group of local investors for $245 million.
And Starbucks plans to expand its regional presence by establishing a new Southeast corporate office in downtown Nashville, backed by a $100 million investment and plans for up to 2,000 jobs, he said.
“This is just a drop in the bucket on the development we have here,” Kupin said.
The Tennessee Department of of Economic and Community Development, which works with the governor’s office on luring new business to the state, would not confirm whether any active development project is in the works to bring Paramount to Nashville.
Despite all the optimistic talk out of Nashville, a potential move by Paramount is not a foregone conclusion.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, via a spokesperson, said she is focused on “protecting and fighting for jobs in L.A., including critical jobs in the entertainment industry that have been a vital part of Los Angeles’ economy.”
Bass will continue to fight to make sure L.A is home to Hollywood, the spokesperson said.