On July 7, 2024, American media companies Skydance Media and Paramount Global announced a definitive agreement to merge in a deal valued at $8 billion, forming a new entity known as "Paramount Skydance Corporation". The agreement valued the newly formed entity at approximately $28 billion.
In 2023, after grappling with debt and striving to remain competitive in the entertainment industry, Paramount's parent company, National Amusements, explored potential merger and acquisition opportunities for Paramount Global. Skydance reached a preliminary agreement on July 2, 2024, to perform a three-way merger between it, National Amusements, and Paramount to establish what was then known as "New Paramount". After the merger closed, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison became the chairman and CEO of the combined company and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell became the president.
The deal was expected to close in the first half of 2025, pending required regulatory approvals, according to reports. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission (EC) approved the transaction in February 2025. On July 24, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media. On August 1, 2025, Skydance announced that the transaction would close six days later, which occurred on August 7, 2025.
The evaluation of the merger by U.S. regulators was affected by Donald Trump's second term as president. At the time, Trump was in an on-going lawsuit with CBS, one of Paramount's properties, alleging that CBS News's reporting amounted to election interference. However, in an unusual move, instead of fighting the lawsuit, Paramount paid $16 million to settle the CBS-Trump lawsuit in July 2025 to ensure that the FCC, headed by Trump loyalist Brendan Carr, would not try to halt the merger. Paramount also chose to conclude The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after Colbert referred to the settlement on-air as a "big fat bribe". The move was widely seen as an attempt to appease Trump and Carr, who were targets and vocal critics of the show and Colbert, however Paramount stated that it was purely for financial reasons. After the merger went through, David Ellison made conservative-friendly changes to CBS News, including hiring conservative political commentator Bari Weiss as its editor-in-chief. Trump praised the decisions to hire Weiss and to cancel The Late Show.
Contents
Background
Paramount Global had faced significant financial challenges, worsened by losses in its streaming services, declining viewership across cable networks, and substantial debt management issues. National Amusements president Shari Redstone had expressed interest in selling her controlling stake in Paramount Global in December 2023 to Skydance. Redstone had been very particular about maintaining the integrity of Paramount Global's assets, especially CBS and Paramount Pictures. The media landscape was evolving rapidly, with Paramount struggling to compete against media giants like Netflix, Amazon, and The Walt Disney Company.
According to reports, Bob Bakish, the president and CEO of Paramount Global, and David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, met on December 20, 2023, to examine the possibility of a merger. While representatives for the two businesses said that negotiations were in the early stages and would not guarantee a deal, it was revealed through insider sources that Zaslav was "not in deal mode".
Numerous prominent companies, such as Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apollo Global Management, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Allen Media Group, and Skydance Media, had indicated their interest in exploring potential business partnerships or purchasing the company.
History
Initial talks
According to reports on January 10, 2024, Skydance Media was considering making an all-cash bid of $2.5 billion for Paramount Global, while National Amusements was reportedly considering a deal or merger. Warner Bros. Discovery ended the merger negotiations with Paramount on February 27, 2024.
Skydance was approached by Paramount and National Amusements on April 2, 2024, regarding an exclusive acquisition window agreement. David Ellison and Shari Redstone aimed for a three-way deal involving the corporations. On April 18, 2024, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management were considering making a bid to acquire Paramount Global.
On April 29, 2024, Bakish stepped down from his role as President and CEO. Reports characterized this as an ouster by Redstone due to Bakish's reported opposition of the Skydance deal. He was replaced by an office of the CEO, led by Brian Robbins, George Cheeks, and Chris McCarthy. According to SEC standards, McCarthy had to be named as the company's "interim principal executive officer" in order for one person to oversee "the normal course of business".
Sony and Apollo Global Management made Paramount a non-binding bid on May 2 for a $26 billion all-cash deal. Even though Skydance was still interested in purchasing Paramount, its exclusive negotiation window expired on May 3, 2024, and it was not extended. When the board members of Paramount gathered together the next day to discuss taking a "go-shop" approach to other bids of this like, they finally agreed to start negotiating with Sony and Apollo's offer while continuing to have non-exclusive conversations with Skydance. In an effort to forward their proposal, Sony and Apollo signed non-disclosure agreements before May 17 that permitted them to look into Paramount's confidential financial data. But at that same time, it was said that the businesses were reconsidering their strategy for a purchase involving the company's assets and were pulling back from their all-cash offer.
Skydance announced in late May that it would rework its offer to buy National Amusements, paying $2.25 billion and requiring that the company accept $1.5 billion in debt reduction funds, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, and that Paramount's shareholders receive $4.5 billion in cash. Paramount and Skydance had reached a merger agreement by June 3. An announcement of the final agreement was anticipated in the next few days. Redstone's National Amusements had not, however, officially approved the sale at that point.
Signing definitive agreement
On July 2, 2024, Skydance renegotiated the deal and reached a preliminary agreement to acquire National Amusements and merge with Paramount. The deal was referred by National Amusements to Paramount's special committee. The leadership team at Skydance approved of the possible sale of a number of Paramount properties that were judged "not strategic" for their goals, including BET and others. According to reports, Paramount started negotiations to sell BET Networks for $1.6–$1.7 billion to purchasers led by Scott Mills, the CEO of the business.
On July 7, 2024, Paramount's board approved the deal to merge with Skydance. The deal will close in two phases: first, a group of investors from Skydance will pay $2.4 billion in cash to purchase National Amusements, the parent company of Paramount Global; second, Paramount Global will pay its Class A and Class B stockholders $4.5 billion in cash and shares. In addition, Paramount will add $1.5 billion in primary capital to its balance sheet. The second phase will see an all-stock merger between Skydance Media and Paramount, valued at $4.75 billion. Equity holders in Skydance will get 317 million Class B shares, with a market value of $15 per share. Paramount Global would have 45 days to look for better or matching offers from other bidders before finalizing. If Paramount were to find a better offer, Skydance would be entitled to a $400 million breakup fee payout from the company.
According to Paramount Global, the merger would inject significant capital into Paramount, helping to address its debt and enabling investments in new content and technologies. It would support Paramount Global's expansion into other entertainment industries, such as animation, sports and video games, where it currently has less presence. Ellison's vision is for the new company "to be both a media and technology enterprise". Skydance would benefit from greater resources and infrastructure, allowing it to produce more large-scale content. Additionally, Skydance would gain from Paramount's brands, intellectual property, and distribution network.
On July 22, 2025, it was reported that Oracle Corporation was in talks with Skydance Media for a $100 million-per-year contract to provide cloud software once the latter's acquisition of Paramount Global is completed.
FCC and CBS
On October 6, 2024, Bill Whitaker interviewed vice president Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election on the CBS News program 60 Minutes, which aired on CBS. During the interview, Whitaker discusses the United States' relationship with Israel during the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, asking whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was listening to the Biden-Harris Administration. Another CBS News program Face the Nation also briefly aired a preview of the interview. On October 16, the Center for American Rights (CAR) filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during the license renewal process for WCBS-TV, the CBS owned-and-operated station in New York City, requesting an investigation for "news distortion" in the airing of the 60 Minutes interview. CAR claims that the interview was edited to favor Harris, potentially violating FCC regulations. On October 31, then-former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit over the segment claiming it was deceptively edited and constituted "partisan and unlawful… election and voter interference".
Outgoing FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel initially dismissed the WCBS complaint in January 2025, but it was revived by Trump's incoming FCC chair, Brendan Carr, who requested the raw footage and full transcript of the interview. CBS agreed to publicly release the footage and transcript on January 31, 2025, claiming that it was legally compelled to do so (although this was questioned by legal commentators). Although the WCBS FCC case is separate, news reports before the merger was completed suggested that the case could have influenced its approval. However, Carr subsequently rejected requests from CBS to re-dismiss the WCBS complaint, and Carr stated in an interview with CNBC the day after the FCC approved the merger that the agency's review of the complaint remained open after providing no timeline for the complaint's review the previous April. Carr also asserted before and the day after the FCC approved the merger that Trump's lawsuit was unrelated to the WCBS complaint. Nevertheless, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2025 that CBS was considering settling the lawsuit, and Shari Redstone reportedly stated in a Paramount board of directors meeting in February 2025 that she favored resolving the lawsuit with mediation. In April 2025, Trump and Paramount began mediation over the lawsuit and the Paramount board of directors outlined terms internally for a potential settlement.
In the same month the mediation began, 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned citing a loss of editorial independence. Owens resigned amid reports that Redstone was seeking a list of upcoming 60 Minutes segments about Trump the show was planning to air (which Owens later confirmed in public remarks). The following month, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon resigned following a dispute with Redstone over McMahon's reprimanding CBS Mornings anchor Tony Dokoupil for not following the organization's editorial standards in an interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates in October 2024 about the Gaza war and for settling the 60 Minutes lawsuit. After the Owens and McMahon resignations, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Ron Wyden sent a letter to Redstone requesting information about the mediation process over concerns that settling the 60 Minutes lawsuit could violate anti-bribery laws due to the merger and Warren called for an investigation of the settlement after it was reached. Redstone reportedly recused herself from the Paramount board's internal deliberations during the mediation process, while Paramount issued a press statement prior to the letter asserting that the "lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) approval process." Paramount Global and Trump agreed to a settlement on July 2, 2025.
Assets
Merged assets
Skydance Media and Paramount Global have been collaborating on multiple films ever since Skydance signed a five-year, (since extended), partnership to co-produce and co-finance films with Paramount Pictures in 2009. Both companies co-own and produce numerous franchises, such as Top Gun, Mission: Impossible, Transformers film rights (co-owned by Hasbro), and Star Trek. Skydance aims to integrate its animation studio, Skydance Animation, with Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon franchises, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender, to expand content offerings. With Paramount's acquisition, Skydance entered multiple markets, including broadcasting with CBS Entertainment, music with Paramount Music, home media with Paramount Home Entertainment and streaming services with Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Paramount also entered the video games market, with Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media.
Reception
Entertainment industry
There was opposition from Hollywood producers and creatives such as James Cameron, regarding the possible sale of Paramount to Sony Pictures. The main concerns revolved around the potential reduction in the number of studios producing content, which could have limited opportunities for writers and producers. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) had also voiced concerns about the consolidation trend in Hollywood, arguing that it could possibly lead to fewer choices and less diversity in content. The Writer's Guild later demanded an investigation into the canceling of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, stating it had "significant concerns" that the cancellation was intended as a bribe for Donald Trump to approve the merger. Creatives like Jane Fonda and John Krasinski voiced their support for David Ellison, while Mark Wahlberg described a merger with Skydance as a "win for the industry". The television animated comedy South Park, which had recently completed a $1.5 billion dollar deal to stream on Paramount+, criticized and satirized the deal in its season 27 opening episode "Sermon on the 'Mount", released on July 23.
Political
The merger received criticism over the conditions and timing of the deal, with opponents characterizing it as "an effort by the government to exert political influence over the press". Critics described it as a capitulation of the media to Trump's personal agenda, and that "the timeline between that and the FCC's approval signals an unprecedented intervention by the government in the editorial operations of the independent press". FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the merger, saying in her dissent "In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC used its vast power to pressure Paramount to broker a private legal settlement and further erode press freedom ... Even more alarming, it is now imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law."
Brendan Carr defended the deal, saying "I think it's time for a change" and that "President Trump is fundamentally reshaping the media landscape and the way he's doing that is, when he ran for election, he ran directly at these legal broadcast media outlets [...] For years government officials just allowed those entities [...] to dictate the political narrative and he has fundamentally changed the game".