Network 10 parent Paramount Global agrees to merge with Skydance Media
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The news: Paramount Global and David Ellison’s Skydance Media have finally agreed to a merger, bringing an end to months of protracted negotiations that will see the tech scion installed as the new entity’s top executive.
The numbers: The Skydance consortium, composed of the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners, will invest about USD8 billion ($11.85 billion) in the transaction.
The consortium will acquire Redstone’s National Amusements for USD2.4 billion, Skydance said in a statement Monday. National Amusements, which is run by Shari Redstone and controls Paramount with voting rights, entered negotiations for a merger with Skydance in December last year.
The group will invest USD4.5 billion in cash and stock in Class A and B shares in Paramount, and add USD1.5 billion in primary capital to the company’s balance sheet, the statement said.
The transaction gives "New Paramount" an enterprise value of about USD28 billion, Skydance said. The agreement includes a 45-day go-shop period.
The context: Redstone, whose family has had control of the storied Hollywood studio for some four decades, was entertaining talks with Ellison until talks collapsed in June. She returned to the table after Skydance revised its valuation of National Amusements, according to Bloomberg.
Skydance, which was founded by the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is a production company that has collaborated with Paramount on a series of breakout films, including ‘Mission: Impossible’ and the ‘Terminator’ franchise.
Ellison will lead the “New Paramount” as chair and chief executive, with former NBCUniversal chief executive Jeff Shell as president. The leadership team in a release on Monday said it would prioritise plans to “enhance and reinvigorate” the Paramount and CBS brands.
Paramount Global owns local Australian media company Network 10.
What they said: “This is a defining and transformative time for our industry and the storytellers, content creators and financial stakeholders who are invested in the Paramount legacy and the longevity of the entertainment economy,” Ellison said in the statement.
“I am incredibly grateful to Shari Redstone and her family who have agreed to entrust us with the opportunity to lead Paramount. We are committed to energising the business and bolstering Paramount with contemporary technology, new leadership and a creative discipline that aims to enrich generations to come.”
The sources: Skydance Media, Paramount Global, Bloomberg
