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David Ellison will fully control Paramount Global when it merges with his company, Skydance Media, according to a new regulatory filing.
According to the amended Federal Communications Commission filing Tuesday, Ellison’s role will be chairman and CEO of new Paramount, combining the assets of Hollywood production company Skydance and Paramount, home to CBS, Showtime and MTV, once the deal closes in the first half of 2025.
The filing said Ellison will hold 100% of his family’s voting interest– a clarification that comes amid possible concerns over control residing with his father, billionaire Oracle co-founder and CEO, Larry Ellison.
A prior version of the filing, which regards the transfer of broadcast licenses for nine television stations, showed Larry Ellison at the top of a chart detailing Paramount’s post-transaction ownership structure.
Skydance, with partner RedBird Capital, secured a merger deal with Shari Redstone in August.
Larry Ellison is the main backer of Skydance and investor in the Paramount acquisition. As a result the family will control the majority — 77% — of the merged company.
The revised FCC filing clarifies the manner in which the Ellison family will exercise control over what is called the “New Paramount” and the voting interests of the Redstone family holding, National Amusements, which controls the media firm.
The filing said that once the deal has closed, David Ellison will grab the reins as chairman and chief executive of Paramount.
He will also become the “sole manager” of the Ellison family entities (Hikouki, LLC, Furaito, LLC, and Aozora, LLC), through which the Ellison family will own and control NAI and New Paramount.
As sole manager of these entities, “David Ellison will hold 100% of the Ellison Family’s voting interests in NAI and New Paramount, in addition to serving as New Paramount’s Chairman and CEO,” the filing said.
Redstone began shopping Paramount last year and entertained a handful of potential suitors in what became a long, drawn-out process that came to a head late summer with Skydance coming out on top.
Ellison is expected to work closely with his father and his company, Oracle in helping to shape his vision of an entertainment company that’s a media-technology hybrid.
