U.S. Regulator Approves $8 Billion Paramount-Skydance Merger
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the $8 billion U.S. merger between entertainment companies Paramount Global (PARA) and Skydance Media.
The deal, which was announced a year ago, includes the CBS broadcast television network, Paramount Pictures movie studio, and specialty channels such as Nickelodeon.
Paramount Chairwoman Shari Redstone will leave the company’s board of directors once the Skydance merger is completed, the companies said.
Redstone’s family company, called National Amusements, is selling its controlling stake in Paramount to privately held Skydance.
Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Oracle (ORCL) founder Larry Ellison.
The decision by the FCC to approve the merger was not unanimous.
Commissioner Anna Gomez opposed the move, saying she is troubled by Paramount’s recent payment to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. President Donald Trump against the CBS program “60 Minutes.”
The regulatory approval comes less than a month after Paramount paid $16 million U.S. to Trump after he sued the company over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.
It also occurred a week after CBS announced it was canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Colbert called the Trump settlement a “big fat bribe” during one of his recent monologues, referencing the $8.4 billion U.S. pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media.
Paramount and CBS executives have said that the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against the challenging backdrop in late night.”
However, the timing of its decision has been called into question by a number of political figures and Hollywood trade groups.
The Writer’s Guild of America has asked the New York State and California Attorneys to launch an investigation into potential wrongdoing at Paramount.
Many Democratic politicians in Washington, D.C., including Senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren, have also questioned the Paramount-Skydance merger.
The deal is being finalized with PARA stock up 25% this year at $13.26 U.S. per share.
