California Attorney General faces setbacks in antitrust litigation

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has faced setbacks in recent antitrust efforts. The San Francisco Superior Court denied Bonta’s request for a preliminary injunction against Amazon, which sought to block the company from alleged price-fixing activities. The judge rejected the state’s attempt to lower the burden of proof and declined to grant an injunction based on email evidence from 2019 to 2022, noting that the case is already scheduled for trial in January.

Separately, Bonta is leading a 12-state coalition in a federal lawsuit to block the $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance. This move highlights an increasing trend of state-level antitrust enforcement in the media sector, using the Sherman, Clayton, and Federal Trade Commission Acts to challenge large-scale industry consolidations.