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The Future. After a drawn-out negotiation, David Ellison’s Skydance (backed by RedBird Capital’s biggest investment ever) has officially made a deal with Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone to merge with Paramount. The hope is to supercharge Paramount from a media behemoth in decline to a next-generation power player. Under the talent-friendly Ellison, who is very young compared to his Hollywood CEO contemporaries, Paramount could usher in a New Hollywood era as it did in the 1960s.
Movie mountaintop
David Ellison’s dream of being a movie mogul is about to come true, thanks to an $8 billion deal for Paramount Global.
- Terms: Skydance and RedBird will buy National Amusements for $2.4 billion, purchase $4.5 billion in Paramount shares, and pay $1.5 billion of the conglomerate’s $14 billion in debt.
- Insurance: Paramount has a 45-day go-shop period to entertain other deals, but it’ll have to pay a breakup fee of $400 million if it decides to go with a different buyer.
- Leadership: Once the deal closes by next summer, Ellison will be made Chairman and CEO, and Jeff Shell, the former CEO of NBCUniversal, will become president.
- Vision: Ellison wants to keep the empire together, invest more in theatrical movies and in Paramount+, focus on cash flow for Paramount’s linear TV assets, and pinpoint $2 billion in cost savings.
Ellison also believes that Paramount “really needs to make the transition to being tech-hybrid as a company.” In that vein, he’ll be leaning on Oracle (run by father Larry Ellison) for AI capabilities that drive productivity, lower costs, level up its streaming capabilities, and innovate its animation and gaming divisions.
Welcome to “New Paramount” — the actual working title of Ellison’s new empire.
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