Late last night, Paramount and Skydance officially announced a deal to merge. With this deal, Skydance will buy the Redstone family’s majority control of Paramount. This comes as the final bidder, Edgar Bronfman Jr., has reportedly dropped out and will not make a bid for Paramount a day before the deadline, according to a report from the New York Times.
The details of the deal have now been announced but it is reportedly valued at $1.75 billion. This gives Skydance control of a media empire that includes CBS, Paramount+, BET, Nickelodeon, Pluto TV, and numerous other properties. Paramount and Skydance have a long history of working together on films like “Top Gun: Maverick” and the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and more.
Shareholders will get between $15 a share to $23 a share depending on the type of stock they have.
The acquisition comes after earlier talks of a direct sale of Paramount to Skydance fell through. Instead, Skydance opted to purchase the controlling stake from the Redstone family, securing their dominance over the company.
The deal is being described as a complex transaction that will result in a merger of the two companies. Thought that process will take time. While the deal has been announced, the Redstone family has a 45-day window to explore other potential bidders. Tomorrow that window closes and no other bidders are currently in talks with Paramount.
According to a memo seen by Reuters job cuts will continue at Paramount until the deal with Skydance closes.
With this deal, David Ellison, founder of Skydance, will now be the new majority owner of Paramount.