Skydance Media has filed an updated filing with the FCC to indicate that Skydance CEO David Ellison will hold 100% percent of the Ellison family’s voting interests in the newly combined Skydance-Paramount.
According to Tuesday’s amended FCC filing, David Ellison will serve as chairman and CEO of New Paramount, combining the assets of Skydance and Paramount Global after the deal closes, expected in the first half of 2025. He will also be appointed as “sole manager” of the Ellison family entities – Hikouki LLC, Furaito LLC and Aozora LLC – creating the Ellison family National Amusements Inc. (currently the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global) and will own and control New Paramount.
Previously, Skydance documentation filed with the FCC stated that Larry Ellison, the multi-billionaire founder of Oracle and the father of David Ellison, would be the majority owner of NAI and would control the recently merged Paramount-Skydance.
Pinnacle Media Ventures, created as a special purpose vehicle to retain the Ellison family’s stake in NAI and Paramount, will own 77.5% of National Amusements following the closing. The remaining 22.5% of NAI will be owned by Gerry Cardinale, head of private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, which worked with Skydance and the Ellisons on the NAI-Paramount deal.
The FCC filing disclosing NAI’s ownership interests is required because the transaction includes the transfer of the 28 local TV stations owned and operated by CBS. The Skydance group’s filing with the FCC is an application asking the organization to approve the transfer of control over television broadcasting licenses. The updated October 29 FCC filing is available at this link.
According to the filing, following the closing of the Skydance-NAI-Paramount deal, NAI’s board of directors will initially consist of “no more than seven individuals.” The Ellison family (i.e. David Ellison) is given voting control on the board with the right to appoint up to five members. RedBird has the right to appoint a maximum of two people to the NAI board.
In July, after months of on-and-off negotiations, Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone struck a deal to merge the media conglomerate with Skydance, ending her decades-long ownership of Paramount, CBS and Viacom family. (A bid led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. failed.) Since then, Paramount has engaged in layoffs and restructuring aimed at cutting 15% of its U.S. workforce as part of efforts to cut $500 million in annual costs .
Paramount Global earlier this month granted its three co-CEOs – George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins – an additional provision in their employment agreements, allowing them to resign and receive severance packages if they are demoted from their co-CEO roles. The trio of executives were also awarded $3 million each in stock under Paramount’s long-term incentive program.