David Ellison’s $8B Paramount Takeover Inches Forward as Drama Surrounds Deal

A second 90-day extension on Paramount Global’s proposed merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media was triggered yesterday (July 7), giving regulators, company executives and the Federal Communications Commission more time to finalize and agree on the deal’s terms. One key hurdle remains: the FCC’s approval to transfer CBS’s broadcast licenses to Skydance, which must come from a commission currently led by Trump-appointed Republican Brendan Carr. Importantly, any ongoing negotiations will now play out against what’s presumed to be a more favorable regulatory climate, following Paramount’s controversial $16 million settlement with President Trump announced last week.

That legal clash with the President stemmed from Trump’s lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, which he claimed had been unfairly edited. The settlement, which has drawn sharp scrutiny, is just the latest twist in what’s been perhaps Paramount’s most turbulent year in recent memory—a saga that’s seen the company shift from Redstone family control to the edge of a new era under David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

For decades, Paramount embodied everything old Hollywood stood for, from its air of glamour to its dynastic leadership. This is the studio that gave moviegoers The Godfather and Top Gun and TV audiences hits like Cheers and Frasier. But with a merger in motion to hand the reins to Skydance, Paramount is now poised to become something very different: a tech-forward brand working to reinvent itself in an industry that’s long since moved on from the old rules.

Needless to say, the road to this moment hasn’t been smooth. If anything, the story of how Paramount got here reads less like a typical business evolution and more like one of Taylor Sheridan’s soapy dramas on Paramount+, this one featuring a media dynasty clinging to power as its empire is carved up by outsiders.

The $16 million settlement with Trump wasn’t just about clearing a legal hurdle; it was also seen as a way to neutralize a potential political threat. Inside Paramount, there were real fears that Trump could use regulatory leverage to derail the Skydance merger. That concern now seems far from hypothetical. On July 3, Trump appeared to confirm the existence of a “side deal” with Ellison that’s worth between $32 million and $35 million.

He was referencing what Fox Business’s Charlie Gasparino first reported as a private commitment by Ellison to run PSAs supporting Trump-aligned causes. Paramount has denied any knowledge of such an arrangement, but Trump’s comments are likely to intensify worries about editorial independence within CBS News. “What you’re seeing now is all must pay tribute to the king,” said Jon Stewart, whose The Daily Show airs on Paramount-owned Comedy Central, during a recent appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast.

Stewart added that he, too, is bracing for whatever comes next: “I’m in a spot where I can do [The Daily Show] on Monday until the company is bought out by people that don’t want anything to do with The Daily Show.”

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose series streams on both Comedy Central and Paramount+, took to social media to slam the merger’s fallout for their show. “This merger is a [expletive] and it’s [expletive] up South Park,” they wrote in a post circulating on Instagram, responding to a delayed premiere announcement. “We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”

The Redstone family’s reluctant exit from Paramount

The wheels for much of this were set in motion back in late 2023, when Skydance first began exploring a merger with Paramount Global. At the time, cord-cutting was accelerating, streaming losses were mounting, and Wall Street had largely lost faith in Paramount’s long-term strategy.

Then–CEO Bob Bakish was holding merger talks with several potential partners, including Warner Bros. Discovery. But it was Skydance’s interest that kicked everything into gear.

From the start, the deal was complicated by one name: Redstone. Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, owns the family firm that effectively holds the keys to the company. Any buyer had to make her whole first, setting the stage for months of boardroom drama, internal power struggles and shareholder confusion.

Skydance’s original offer, roughly $2 billion in cash and stock, triggered immediate backlash. Investors balked at the terms. Paramount’s special committee stalled. And in April 2024, Bakish was pushed out reportedly over disagreement with Redstone. The deal collapsed, and rival bidders began circling.

Redstone seemed open to anything—until she wasn’t. Then, in a quiet but dramatic reversal, the Skydance talks were revived. This time, the restructured deal offered shareholders a better payout and a more straightforward path forward. By July 2024, an agreement was finalized: Skydance would merge with Paramount in an $8 billion transaction, ending the Redstone family’s decades-long grip on the studio.

For many, the Redstones were synonymous with Paramount. Sumner Redstone built a sprawling media empire with ruthless focus. His daughter Shari spent years defending that legacy. But in the end, not even she could hold off the tide. Streaming hadn’t delivered, ad revenue was shrinking, and tech giants like Netflix, Apple and Amazon were outpacing Paramount at every turn.

David Ellison has laid out a vision centered on A.I.-assisted production, a renewed focus on tentpole films and reshaping Paramount+ into a leaner, more viable streaming platform. Still, major hurdles remain. Layoffs have already impacted hundreds. And whether Skydance can actually pull off a successful integration—blending old-school Hollywood with a tech-forward playbook—is far from guaranteed. Ellison and his team will face pressure from all directions: investors, regulators, unions and the press.

But at least for now, for the first time in years, Paramount’s future is beginning to take shape—even if it means letting go of everything it once was.