The long-awaited and highly anticipated sale of Paramount has finally been cleared for completion, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced its final approval of Skydance’s $8.4 billion acquisition on Thursday.
This concludes a torturous review process that lasted more than a year, during which negotiations between the government and Skydance drew considerable attention and controversy. Now that the FCC has given its approval, the deal is expected to close within weeks.
Skydance chief David Ellison will finally be able to pursue his vision of how best to manage Paramount’s many media assets, which include the famous film studio, the Paramount+ streaming service, the CBS network, 28 television stations, and dozens of cable channels. Widespread staff layoffs and cost-cutting are almost certain.
Jeff Shell, the former CEO of NBCUniversal and future President of the new Paramount, has identified $2 billion in “cost savings” that he plans to implement, including layoffs and programming cuts in the cable division.
On the other hand, Paramount’s film studio stands to benefit from Skydance’s acquisition. Ellison has long been a proponent of theatrical releases, as seen with Skydance’s role in producing TOP GUN: MAVERICK. Under his watch, most expect that the flow of new movie releases will continue.
Before Skydance and Paramount negotiated their deal, other Hollywood studios such as Warner Bros. and Sony had expressed interest in acquiring Paramount. These combinations would almost certainly have resulted in a lower overall number of films being released, as was the case when Disney took over 20th Century Fox.
