David Ellison’s Skydance Media has closed its $8 billion merger with Paramount Global to create new company Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, the company announced Thursday.
Under Skydance, Paramount will be restructured into three divisions: studios, direct-to-consumer, and TV media.
“Today marks an exciting and pivotal moment as we prepare to bring Paramount’s legacy as a Hollywood institution into the future of entertainment,” Ellison said Thursday. “My vision is to honor exceptional storytelling while modernizing how we make and deliver content to support the world’s top creative talent, enhance experiences for audiences worldwide, and create sustainable value for our shareholders.”
Ellison 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.”
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.
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). Redstone received $1.75 billion in cash upon the deals close and exited the merged company’s board.
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.
David Ellison serves as CEO of Paramount and Jeff Shell (former CEO of NBCUniversal) has been tapped as president. 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
More to come…
