Deal closed: Skydance to merge with Paramount

The Skydance Media studio will merge with the media group Paramount Global. Its shareholders will take control of the new entity through a total investment of more than 8 billion dollars. The deal requires regulatory approval, which will take at least a few months.

The information was confirmed by a statement obtained by AFP. The deal brings to an end several months of back-and-forth between the two companies to reach an agreement.

Now, the shareholders of Skydance will buy National Amusements (NAI), the holding company that controls Paramount, for US$2.4 billion in cash, included in the US$8 billion investment.

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In that sense, it was learned that, although National Amusements owns less than 10% of Paramount's capital, it has 77.4% of the voting rights.

The value of the new company, which will keep the name Paramount, thus amounts to some 28 billion dollars, according to AFP estimates.

The deal comes a month after it became known that National Amusements chairman Shari Redstone, stopped a deal at the last minute and reported in a statement that she rejected an offer from Skydance to acquire the media conglomerate for $2.25 billion.

Paramount controls the CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central TV networks, and the Paramount+ streaming service in addition to the Paramount film and television studio.