US media firm Paramount's board approves $28B merger with Skydance

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Paramount Global, a US-based mass media and entertainment conglomerate, said that a company committee had unanimously approved a merger with American production company Skydance Media.

The committee retained independent financial and legal advisors considered multiple approaches and constructs from various parties over a period of more than six months, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement that we believe delivers to Paramount stockholders both immediate value and future upside opportunity," said Charles E. Phillips, Jr. on behalf of the committee.

The deal first surfaced in late January when Paramount Global was considering job cuts amid uncertainty surrounding a potential takeover. Skydance was reported the same week to have made an initial offer to American media executive Shari Redstone, Paramount’s chair, to buy her stake in mass media holding company National Amusements, which controls 77% of Paramount’s voting stock.

Skydance said late Sunday in a separate statement that the companies signed a definitive agreement for the proposed merger in an all-stock transaction, valuing Skydance at $4.75 billion.

The agreement provides New Paramount an enterprise value of approximately $28 billion, it said, adding: "Ellison Family and RedBird Capital Partners to Invest Over $8 Billion in New Paramount and to Acquire National Amusements, Inc."

David Ellison is an American film producer, the founder and CEO of Skydance Media, and the son of multibillionaire Larry Ellison, who co-founded software company Oracle.

RedBird Capital Partners is an American investment management firm that served as a producer in Paramount's Top Gun: Maverick movie.

The firm also invested in Hollywood actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Artists Equity, basketball legend LeBron James and sports-marketing businessman Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Company, and the Fenway Sports Group – owner of American baseball team Boston Red Sox, and the English Premier League's Liverpool Football Club.