Paramount CEO David Ellison eyes Austin as potential new base after threatening to ditch California during antitrust battle

As an antitrust battle threatens his Hollywood empire, Paramount boss David Ellison is eyeing a new base in Austin, Texas, The Post has learned.

The 43-year-old media mogul — facing heat from California Attorney General Rob Bonta over his plans to merge Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion mega deal — is actively evaluating a prospective movie and TV studio in the Texas capital, according to three people familiar with the matter.

While Paramount has not formally committed to the plans, sources said the entertainment giant and its partners are in advanced negotiations and zeroing in on the Bluebonnet Business Center — a hulking commercial development in the east of the city — as a primary target.

Located at 9219 Old Manor Road, the sprawling industrial park’s crown jewel is Building 4, a 415,000-square-foot cross-dock mega facility. By comparison, Paramount’s legendary lot in Los Angeles — whose soundstages have produced iconic films including “Rear Window,” “The Godfather,” “Grease” and “Forrest Gump” — spans about 360,000 square feet.

Warner Bros. — home of legendary films from “Casablanca” to “Blade Runner” — operates dozens of soundstages across LA with a combined footage of nearly 1 million square feet.

The Bluebonnet Business Center has a sprawling facility that has all the necessary infrastructure to power a major studio. David Ellison is eyeing an Austin base for Paramount amid threats to flee California.

Representatives for Hines, the property's developer, and Aquila Commercial, the main broker, did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Opportunity Austin, a regional economic development group tasked with luring corporate investments and jobs to Central Texas, also did not respond to a request for comment.

The surprise pivot by the CEO of Paramount Skydance could be framed as a strategy to cut costs by skirting California's high taxes, regulations and its heavily unionized entertainment industry workforce, according to sources briefed on the plans.

“Rob Bonta is trying to kill Hollywood jobs in California while boosting real estate commissions in Texas. If Bonta’s plans were a movie, it would be 'Dumb and Dumber,'” fumed one insider with direct knowledge of Ellison's Texas blueprint. “As for Paramount, they don’t want to leave the state, but they are sort of being kicked out by the Democrats,” the source added.

If Bonta does not agree to settle his antitrust allegations by Oct. 1, Ellison, son of software giant Oracle's billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison, has reportedly threatened to begin the process of moving out of the Golden State.

Public records show work is already well underway at the Austin site, making it a turnkey fortress for any incoming corporate whale. Boasting sky-high 36-foot ceilings, 96 dock doors, and a mammoth 4,000-amp power supply, the colossal warehouse already packs the megawatt punch that would be needed to power sprawling Hollywood soundstages. Filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation dated June 27, 2025, reveal that an initial 25,685-square-foot executive landing suite is undergoing a rapid interior buildout.