According to sources, Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc. (NAI) and David Ellison’s Skydance Media have resumed discussions that may result in a change of ownership for Paramount Global. The proposed deal will next be reviewed by Paramount’s special committee of the board of directors.
Previously Shari Redstone withdrew from a potential merger with Skydance in June. The deal would have combined Paramount Pictures, CBS, Showtime, and Nickelodeon with Skydance Media, the company behind the co-financing of hits like Top Gun: Maverick and the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Skydance, in partnership with investment firms RedBird Capital and KKR, proposed a deal to acquire Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, which controls Paramount. The plan involved merging National Amusements with Skydance.
Skydance Productions was founded in 2010 by David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The company has supported Paramount films such as World War Z, Star Trek Into Darkness, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Furthermore, Skydance also expanded into television with shows like Jack Ryan on Amazon, launched an animation division led by John Lasseter beginning with Luck on Apple TV+, and developed sports and interactive units.
After an exclusive negotiation period and several revisions to the offers, a representative for National Amusements announced on June 11 that the parties had “not been able to reach mutually acceptable terms” regarding Skydance Media’s potential acquisition of a controlling stake in NAI.
This announcement plunged Paramount Global into further uncertainty, following the ousting of CEO Bob Bakish in April. In response, the company established an “office of the CEO” led by Brian Robbins, Chris McCarthy, and George Cheeks to provide interim leadership and stability.
The “office of the CEO ” has included plans to reduce annual costs by about $500 million and hire bankers to sell assets, with a possible sale of BET Media Group being reconsidered. Additionally, to curb losses for its flagship streaming service, efforts are underway at Paramount+, which, despite having 71 million subscribers, still lacks the scale of competitors like Netflix and Disney.