Media giant Paramount Global, known for brands like CBS and MTV, will team up with Skydance Media, a technology company led by David Ellison. The deal ends years of speculation about Paramount's fate.
The deal comes just weeks after Ellison's previous bid to buy Paramount collapsed at the last minute. This shocked industry experts and raised questions about the future of the media company.
The deal means Ellison becomes the new media mogul and ends the control Shari Redstone had over Paramount through her family's company, National Amusements. Her father, the late Sumner Redstone, created the media empire in the 1980s after a fierce battle to acquire it.
The transaction involves first the purchase of National Amusements by Skydance and the subsequent merger with Paramount, with Skydance's value estimated at $4.75 billion. Ellison's production company is investing $2.4 billion in cash to purchase National Amusements and $4.5 billion in an all-cash merger, which includes both publicly…