Paramount agrees to sweetened Skydance merger deal
Skydance founder David Ellison is set to become Paramount’s new chairman and chief executive. | Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Paramount Global has agreed to merge with Skydance Media in a deal that will see the joint enterprise, temporarily dubbed “New Paramount,” valued at approximately $28 billion.
As part of the two-step agreement announced on Sunday, Paramount Chair Shari Redstone (the daughter of Sumner Redstone) will sell National Amusements — which holds her family’s controlling stake in Paramount — for $2.4 billion. Skydance will then merge with Paramount, investing $8 billion to purchase Paramount’s shares and pay off some of the company’s balance sheet. Bloomberg reports that Paramount has $14.6 billion of debt as of March, partially attributed to streaming losses and a decline in the company’s broadcast and cable TV business.
“Given the changes in...