David Ellison’s Skydance Media has closed its $8 billion merger with Paramount Global to create new company Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, the parties announced Thursday.
Under Skydance, Paramount will be restructured into three divisions: studios, direct-to-consumer and TV media.
In an open letter released with the deal close, Ellison, who will serve as Paramount chairman and CEO, reiterated Skydance’s promise to realize $2 billion in cost synergies post-merger, adding he now has “greater confidence in our ability to not only achieve — but meaningfully exceed” that figure through plans to “transition the entire enterprise to a single technology platform.”
“Today marks Day One of a new Paramount,” Ellison said. “I am thrilled and honored to write to you as Chairman and CEO, as — together with our Board, our new executive leadership team, and our colleagues around the world — we embark on the exciting next chapter of this legendary company.”
The new Paramount CEO added: “Moving forward, we will work with conviction and optimism to transform Paramount into a tech-forward company that blends the creative heart of Hollywood with the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley. By harnessing cutting-edge technologies to serve great storytelling, we will unlock the company’s enormous potential.”
Paramount Skydance Corp.
The finalization of the acquisition follows the FCC’s July 24 approval of the deal, which came after Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to President Donald Trump to settle his lawsuit against CBS over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, and more than a year after Skydance and Paramount first announced the agreement on July 7, 2024.
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In his letter, Ellison called CBS News “home to one of the most storied American broadcast journalism legacies in America” and gave a shout-out to “60 Minutes,” which he said has “a long tradition of impactful reporting led by seasoned journalists committed to accuracy, integrity and public trust.” In April, Bill Owens, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” announced he would leave the show citing interference from Paramount execs as preventing him from making “independent decisions based on what was right for ‘60 Minutes,’ right for the audience.” CBS News last month named “60 Minutes” veteran Tanya Simon the newsmagazine’s new executive producer.
As the Paramount-Skydance deal closes, Larry Ellison (father of David Ellison), Skydance and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital have purchased Shari Redstone’s shares of National Amusements Inc. (which owned 77% of the voting power in Paramount Global). Shareholders of NAI received $1.75 billion in cash upon the deal’s close, and Redstone is exiting the merged company’s board. (Shari Redstone owned 20% of NAI, with the remainder held in a Redstone family trust.) Skydance this week announced its 10 designated board members for the new Paramount, which include former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing and Oracle CEO Safra Catz.
Paramount will remain publicly traded, as Paramount Global was, but the Ellison family will control the company. The company begins trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the new “PSKY” ticker symbol Thursday.
Moving forward, Ellison says Paramount-owned streamers Paramount+ and Pluto TV will operate on a unified technology stack beginning in 2026.
The company remains vague on plans for Paramount’s cable offering, with Ellison writing in his Thursday note: “On the TV Media side, our challenge is to reinvent our portfolio of brands for a non-linear world. We plan to invest appropriately based on the future business opportunity, thereby maximizing cash flow so we can reinvest in our growth businesses.”
Ellison serves as CEO of Paramount and Jeff Shell (former CEO of NBCUniversal) has been tapped as president.
Of the three Paramount Global co-CEOs, only George Cheeks (previously CEO of CBS) will remain with the new company as chair of the TV media segment. Chris McCarthy, of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, is departing, as is Robbins, CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. Other senior Paramount Global execs are also exiting, including Paramount Streaming CEO Tom Ryan.
Ellison has already outlined the majority of his senior leadership team for the new company, including:
- Andy Gordon, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operating Officer
- George Cheeks, Chair of TV Media
- Dana Goldberg, Co-Chair of Paramount Pictures and Chair of Paramount Television
- Josh Greenstein, Co-Chair of Paramount Pictures and Vice Chair of Platforms
- Cindy Holland, Chair of Direct-to-Consumer
- Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon, General Counsel and Acting Chief Legal Officer
- Jim Sterner, Chief People Officer
- Melissa Zukerman, Chief Communications Officer
- Andrew Warren will continue as Interim CFO.
- Don Granger, President, Motion Picture Group
- Kevin MacLellan, President, International and Global Content Distribution
- Rebecca Mall, President, Cross Company Initiatives, Franchise, and Corporate Marketing
- Matt Thunell, President, Paramount Television Studios
- Kevin Creighton, EVP, Corporate Finance & Investor Relations
- Tony Driscoll, EVP, Head of Corporate Strategy & Development
- Efrain Miron, EVP, Head of Content Strategy & Licensing, DTC
- Jose Turkienicz, EVP, Head of Global Operations
- Laura Watson, EVP, Corporate and Executive Communications
- Jane Wiseman, EVP, Head of Originals, DTC
From Variety US