If successful,Ellison will purchase Paramount chair Shari Redstone’s family holding company,National Amusements,Inc. for $US2 billion ($3.1 billion),becoming the company’s chief executive and controlling shareholder. Paramount owns Network Ten,Channel 5 in the UK,US network CBS,Nickelodeon,MTV and the storied Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures.
The deal,while complex and far from completion,would mean Network Ten changing hands for the sixth time. In 2017,CBS bought the network,which later merged with Viacom before rebranding as Paramount Global.
A Network Ten spokesperson declined to comment. However,network executives – speaking anonymously due to the ongoing negotiations – said they considered Ellison’s merger proposal to be a positive one that could leave Paramount’s Australian assets in a strong position. A successful deal would also firm up the content pipelines for Paramount’s free and paid services locally,they said.
Paramount and Skydance already have an established working relationship. Founded by Ellison in his early 20s in 2006,Skydance has co-produced several major films with Paramount Pictures,including the Mission Impossible series,True Grit,Top Gun Maverick,and others.
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However,they need to surmount a number of obstacles to make the tie-up happen.
While the Redstone family controls 77 per cent of Paramount’s voting stock,it owns only around 10 per cent of the shares. Other shareholders have signalled dissatisfaction with the Skydance deal being in pole position.