Shari Redstone to Sell Family Business in $8B Deal

The iconic Paramount logo of a mountain silhouetted among a circle of stars is more than 100 years old, but come 2025, the company that’s home to such properties as CBS, Showtime, Nickelodeon, Pluto and Comedy Central, among other broadcast and digital entities, will see renewed life under Skydance Media.

The deal, an $8 billion investment by Skydance — with an enterprise value of $28 billion, per Variety — means Shari Redstone, daughter of the late Sumner Redstone who purchased what was then called Viacom in 1987, will cede control of Paramount Global to the consortium backed by David Ellison, who will serve as chairman and CEO, and RedBird Capital Partners. Former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell comes aboard as president and will lead operations.

“New Paramount will be a creative-driven destination for storytellers dedicated to delivering top-quality content,” read an announcement of the deal, which still needs to gain regulatory approval.

The portfolio also includes Paramount Pictures, the venerable movie studio known for the Mission Impossible franchise and an extensive library of film titles. National Amusements, the holding company, also operates some 759 movie screens in the U.S., U.K. and Latin America.

It’s expected that the transaction will close by the first half of 2025.

Said Redstone in a release issued at 11:30 p.m. on July 7: “In 1987, my father, Sumner Redstone, acquired Viacom and began assembling and growing the businesses today known as Paramount Global. He had a vision that ‘content was king’ and was always committed to delivering great content for all audiences around the world. That vision has remained at the core of Paramount’s success and our accomplishments are a direct result of the incredibly talented, creative, and dedicated individuals who work at the company.

Given the changes in the industry, we want to fortify Paramount for the future while ensuring that content remains king. Our hope is that the Skydance transaction will enable Paramount’s continued success in this rapidly changing environment. As a longtime production partner to Paramount, Skydance knows Paramount well and has a clear strategic vision and the resources to take it to its next stage of growth. We believe in Paramount and we always will.”

Skydance and Paramount have scheduled an investor call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on July 8.

Ellison has reportedly worked for more than 10 months on securing the deal, which seemed to come apart just last month. Ellison founded Skydance in 2010 as a hub for film production and TV production as well as gaming. His father, Larry Ellison, is the founder of Oracle and a billionaire who is also participating in the Paramount-Skydance transaction.

Source: Variety