One of Hollywood’s oldest and most iconic companies, Paramount Global, has agreed to merge with the independent film studio Skydance Media.
The announcement came after months of negotiations, during which Redstone met with several potential partners, including Sony and private equity firm Apollo.
As per the terms of the deal, Shari Redstone, the non-executive chair of Paramount, will be divesting her family’s controlling stake in the company through a complex transaction expected to culminate in forming a new entity valued at approximately $28 billion.
It draws the Redstone family’s era to a close, marking the end of a legacy left by their late patriarch, Sumner Redstone, who took a chain of drive-in cinemas and transformed them into a vast media empire that includes Paramount, CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and MTV.
“We hope that the Skydance transaction will enable Paramount’s continued success in this rapidly changing environment,” Ms Redstone said.
According to the company, its TV channels have a global reach of more than 4.3 billion subscribers across 180 countries.
The merger would combine Paramount, home of classic films such as Chinatown and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with its financial partner on several recent big releases, including Top Gun: Maverick and Star Trek Into Darkness.
Paramount said it expected to close the deal by the summer of 2025.
Paramount Global, which was founded in 1914, has been responsible for many classic films, including The Godfather, Star Trek, and the Mission: Impossible series.
However, the entertainment giant has faced several challenges over the last decades, and its shares have declined by more than 75% in the last five years.
Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded US technology giant Oracle.
The deal comes as the global entertainment industry Is morphing into a video-streaming space.