New boss of Paramount grilled about rumored Trump deal

Los Angeles Times

3 days ago

David Ellison finally clinched his prize Thursday, completing Skydance Media's $8-billion takeover of the historic Paramount.
But the tech scion immediately faced questions about President Trump's boast that he expects $20 million in free advertising and programming as part of a settlement to end Trump's lawsuit over CBS '60 Minutes' edits. The settlement cleared the way for Skydance's takeover of the company that, in addition to CBS, includes MTV, Comedy Central and the storied Paramount Pictures.
Last month, Paramount paid $16 million to settle the lawsuit, which 1st Amendment experts said had no merit. Three weeks later, Ellison's acquisition of Paramount was approved by federal regulators.
If Skydance participated in such a deal to give free public service announcements to Trump to settle his '60 Minutes' lawsuit, viewers are going to have to watch CBS to find out.
The first question Ellison, the newly minted chairman and chief executive of Paramount, fielded from reporters during a press briefing Thursday was about the purported PSAs. Ellison would not directly answer it.
'We are not going to politicize anything today,' Ellison said at the event held at Paramount headquarters in Times Square in New York.
Paramount Global handled the settlement and Skydance was not involved 'in any way,' Ellison said. But Trump — who has a friendly relationship with Ellison's father Larry — has proclaimed numerous times that he's been promised $20 million in free air time for public service announcements that promote causes favored by the White House. Trump's former agent, Ari Emanuel, also helped Ellison make its case to the president to allow the deal to go forward.
Ellison and the other top executives stated their support for the news division at the press conference. Ellison said CBS News and '60 Minutes' were among the first stops on his tour of the company's offices after the deal was closed.
As for the news ombudsman that Skydance agreed to as part of the terms to get approval, Paramount's new president, Jeff Shell, said the position should not be viewed as a censor.
'The ombudsman is meant to be a transparency vehicle, not an oversight vehicle,' Shell said. 'We do believe in transparency.'
Asked how Skydance will handle the ongoing attacks on mainstream media that continue to come from the White House, Ellison said the company will stand its ground.
'We're obviously going to be fierce defenders of our talent,' Ellison said. 'We always have been.'
Ahead of the press conference, Ellison put out a mission statement for the merged company, promising to combine the company's storied movie and TV properties with technological prowess. Paramount is also the home of several iconic but aging cable brand names, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
'Moving forward, we will work with conviction and optimism to transform Paramount into a tech-forward company that blends the creative heart of Hollywood with the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley,' Ellison wrote.
The immediate challenge facing Skydance will be building the scale of Paramount+, which, despite a decent number of popular shows, has lagged in the streaming competition led by Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Ellison promised the direct-to-consumer offering can be 'a leading global streaming service.'
The mogul is taking over the most-watched television network in CBS, but like the rest of the legacy media industry, it's fighting the migration of viewers to streaming.
Ellison's note made a point of praising '60 Minutes,' saying it has 'a long tradition of impactful reporting led by seasoned journalists committed to accuracy, integrity, and public trust' and expressed thanks to the news division for continuing to toil through the controversy.
'We take immense pride in CBS News' legacy of impactful journalism and look forward to continuing to foster a newsroom culture where journalists are empowered, trusted, and equipped to do their best work,' Ellison wrote.
The new company is now called Paramount, a Skydance Corp, with its stock trades under the PSKY ticker. Shares were trading down about 3%, to $11.25, in midday trading.
According to Ellison and his private equity Paramount investors, RedBird Capital Partners, the company will soon be positioned to reach new heights.
Ellison's play for the studio began nearly two years ago during Hollywood's summer of labor unrest, when then-controlling shareholder Shari Redstone's family enterprise, National Amusements, found itself in a cash crunch after Paramount halted its dividend to its investors.
In December 2023, Redstone turned to Paramount's board to approve the Skydance transaction. That triggered another fraught process as board members agonized over the structure of a deal that would reward rank-and-file shareholders — not just the Redstones.
The deal was finally signed July 7, 2024. As part of the Skydance buyout, the Redstones National Amusements Inc. were paid $2.4 billion. After the firm's considerable debts are paid, the family should come away with about $1.75 billion.
Paramount shareholders will receive $4.5 billion. Skydance and RedBird Capital Partners also agreed to inject $1.5 billion into Paramount's balance sheet to help pay down debt.
'Our investment in Paramount and long-term partnership with the Ellison family reflects our deep conviction in the value of world-class intellectual property and the potential to unlock substantial growth,' RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale said in a statement.