Inside ‘New Paramount’: Likely Org Chart, Spin-Offs & Deal Flow Chaos
‘People working inside a mausoleum,’ says one rep of the Redstone crew awaiting their fate as David buys Goliath
I write about agents, lawyers and top dealmakers for paid subscribers. I wrote a three-part series about the new state of TV deals that covered the surge in indie pacts and the rise of “showveralls” and mini-first-looks and scooped Apple’s new backend deals for writers.
This is part two of our double feature on what’s coming at “New Paramount.” Earlier, Lesley Goldberg dove into industry excitement and expectations over the future Cindy Holland regime as she is steps into a big role post-merger.
It’s only fitting that Paramount Global, the key progenitor of TV soap operas, has seen its pending merger with Skydance Media struggle through as many twists and turns as a season of As the World Turns.
Around this time last year, the Ellison family (David and his billionaire Oracle founder father Larry) and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners made an $8 billion move to acquire Shari Redstone’s National Amusements and merge Skydance with Paramount. The deal values “New Paramount” at $28 billion, and installs David Ellison as CEO and former NBCU chief Jeff Shell as president. It’s currently awaiting FCC approval of the broadcast license transfer — a process that’s on day 237 of a typical 180-day timeline.
Ahead of the pact’s initial target closing date of April 7, lawyers and agents I talked to for my Q1 deals analysis were antsy. Clients who had the luxury of choice didn’t want to engage with either company amid uncertainty, and those who did bring projects to the table felt negotiations were tougher than usual.
Despite the triggering of the second automatic 90-day extension on Monday — and widespread criticism of Paramount paying $16 million to settle an unrelated suit against CBS from Donald Trump — Hollywood dealmakers still expect the merger to close. (Trump has said he also made a side deal with David Ellison, extracting a promise for PSAs from the company, to the tune of another $16 million “or more” in value; Paramount has denied it made any such commitment on its end.)
With the endless wait likely coming to an end in the next three months, I pulled some early responses from my ongoing Q2 deals survey (weigh in now via this link) and also got the brief from some very major dealmakers in town on what they know, predict, fear and question about the new company — and what you should know too.
In this issue:
✅ Who’s really running “New Paramount” The Skydance execs and outsiders poised to take over, and the murky org chart that has insiders guessing
✅ SpinCo 2.0? Why Paramount may follow Comcast’s playbook and shuttle its cable networks, and what that signals about the new company’s future
✅ Buyers circling The two Paramount brands most likely to be sold, who’s kicking the tires, and what kind of deals are on the table
✅ Deal drought What reps say trying to close deals with Paramount or Skydance right now feels like
✅ “Inside a mausoleum” How fear, silence and uncertainty are freezing morale inside Paramount’s ranks
✅ The 90-Day countdown What’s still unclear as the second merger extension kicks in — and how reps are gaming out the timeline
✅ Could CBS follow Fox News? The chatter about whether the Tiffany network’s news arm could be spun off as part of a leaner structure
✅ The Paramount+ problem Why dealmakers doubt the streamer’s future, and what a licensing JV could look like
✅ “Total lack of plan” Even as the deal looks likely to clear its final hurdles, dealmakers see more uncertainty ahead
I. The Org Chart: Who’s In, Out & Missing
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