Paramount Agrees To Merge With Skydance In $8 Billion Deal, Ending Redstone Era

Paramount Global has agreed to merge with Skydance in a significant deal that will see the Redstone family relinquish control of the storied movie studio and media company. The merger, valued at over $8 billion, involves a consortium including RedBird Capital Partners and KKR, and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approval. CNBC reports: The deal gives National Amusements an enterprise value of $2.4 billion, which includes $1.75 billion in equity. Paramount's class A shareholders will receive $23 apiece in cash or stock, while class B stockholders will receive $15 per share, equating to a cash consideration totaling $4.5 billion available to public shareholders. As part of the deal Skydance will also inject $1.5 billion of capital into Paramount's balance sheet. "It's a new Paramount; it's not just a catchphrase," said RedBird's Jeff Shell, former CEO of NBCUniversal, on a call with investors Monday. "We think it's going to be a new day for these combined assets."

Skydance founder David Ellison will lead the combined company as CEO, while Shell will serve as president. The merger is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the third quarter of 2025. It also includes a 45-day "go-shop period," in which the Paramount special committee can solicit other offers. A completed Skydance merger would mark a major shift for the ownership of Paramount, as well as for Hollywood as a whole. The Redstone family has long controlled the movie studio -- known for films such as "The Godfather," "Top Gun" and "Forrest Gump" -- as well as the CBS broadcast network and cable TV networks including MTV and Nickelodeon. Now, Ellison, 41, son of Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, will be at the helm of a major movie studio and among Hollywood's elite. "It's been a long time since a creative executive ran one of the big Hollywood companies," Shell said on Monday's call. "And I think it's really important when creative is the core."

"creative elite"

[backslashdot]

Seriously? Anyone actually believe that? Dude thinks he's Stanley Kubrick. LOL.

overhaul

[iluvcrap2000]

They need to stop the zombie channels and let them Thrive with original programming and go back to their roots. such as MTV, Who watches that anymore? They started as MUSIC Television. Now it's lame shows. Go Back to Playing Music, news, concerts, game shows, interviews. the Gen X'ers Thrived on that, and the later generations never got to experience it. Which is Sad. :(. I WANT MY MTV BACK!

declining industry

[will4]

Expect more of these lifesaving operations on copyright holder companies.

No one wants to be the first formerly major movie/TV company to go bankrupt and sell its copyrights for 1/1000th of what they are valued at today.

If Paramount goes under and sells its entire catalogue for a few million dollars, every other music/tv/film copyright holder will have to audit and reprice the value of its back catalog at a much lower price.

It reduces the enterprise value and affects the interest rates on existing loans as w

More oligarchs

[Required Snark]

Another step down into the snake pit of American oligarchy. Wealth and power in the US is being concentrated among a smaller and smaller segment of the population. Although everyone talks about the techo-wizard billionaires, the majority of wealth in the country is inherited. Which is exact what happened here.

Does anyone honestly think that the spawn of Ellison is now in control of a major media conglomerate because he is a "creative" type? If the phrase nepo-baby didn't already exist it would have to be i