I find this piece shocking. Ari Emanuel is as smart as there is... but he does EXACTLY what he claims that Rob Bonta is doing in this screed. He completely avoids all the negatives and only addresses as "saving hollywood" what is really just maintaining status quo, at best. And let's not even get going on the $7b deal that Emanuel's TKO company just did with PSKY. He's not biased at all!!!! He is right to say that the primary focus by Bonta on theatrical box office misses the mark. I agree. I think the legal argument is deeply flawed and problematic. But the absurdity of "Warner Bros can't make it with all that debt" is stunning, esp in the face of PSKY looking at $80 billion in debt and WBD starting in 2002 with $50b in debt, which he admits (without detail) has been cut to $29b in 4 years... as was always the plan. "Does anyone believe (WBD) will be able to invest in films and television?" YES!!! It has been for 4 years and had enormous success last year in theatrical and is still a leader in tv production and, for that matter, streaming. They released 12 features since PSKY was born and have announced the intention to increase production, with 16 scheduled in the next year and more the next. The Paramount-Warner Merger could... not fail. It's possible. The lost job count could be 4000 and not 8000. I have been arguing that Par will NEED the scale they are promising to try to pay down that debt, which is 60% bigger than where WBD started and now Emanuel says cannot be escaped. But this piece is old-fashioned "behold my big swinging dick and agree with me or you will destroy the world... only David Ellison can save Hollywood" gold-plated bullshit. It is not a serious analysis. And I am 100% sure that Ari Emanuel knows it. He might actually believe about 40% of what he is throwing out there. Maybe. The Paramount-Warner Merger Could Save Hollywood by @AriEmanuel via @WSJopinion