Paramount and Skydance Media merging

[FWN Adm]

Paramount Global and Skydance Media have reached a deal to merge the two media companies together, according to a Sunday joint statement. The proposed merger comes after reports of renewed talks between the two companies emerged earlier in the month and after months of interest from various potential bidders.

Paramount Global and David Ellison's Skydance Media said the merger will occur in two steps. According to the companies, the Skydance Investor Group will pay $2.4 billion for National Amusements Inc, the company through which Shari Redstone controls Paramount. The two companies pegged the enterprise value of New Paramount at about $28 billion.

"Our hope is that the Skydance transaction will enable Paramount's continued success in this rapidly changing environment," Redstone said in a statement. "As a longtime production partner to Paramount, Skydance knows Paramount well and has a clear strategic vision and the resources to take it to its next stage of growth." The companies said they hope to "re-imagine the Company's operating model, transform its technological platform, streamline its organization and accelerate other initiatives already underway" through the merger.