It’s been 10 years since Shari Redstone launched a campaign to organize her family’s heritage in October. Most of the time, she hasn’t rested the whole time.
A month ago, the 70-year-old Redstone was sold by Paramount Global Family Media Empire, and it was reasonable to see the dust happen before the 10th anniversary of the day his ex-girlfriend was on. You might have been expecting it. Her old man was expelled from the Beverly Park home of legendary film and television mogul Sumner Redstone. Shari’s move to take control of his father’s life from rival candidates to his estate and his throne caused an avalanche of lawsuits, corporate maneuvering, financial engineering, sharp lawyers and meeting room deals .
Slowly, but certainly, the young Redstone defeated a powerful figure in his father’s orbit, taking home the home of Paramount Global, Paramount Pictures, CBS, Paramount+Streamers, and more film and television assets.
In the case of Redstone, this winding road was expected to end in early April. This sold the company in a $8 billion deal to Tech Scion David Ellison’s Skydance and Gerry Cardinale’s Redbird Capital Partners. With the new year coming, key players on both sides were sure the deal was on a trajectory for officially closing.
But let’s think about everything that’s happened since the beginning of the year.
The stealth investor group known as Project Rise Partners is published in a globally valuing Hail Mary, which is significantly more than Skydance-Redbird price tag, at $13.5 billion on paper. While investor details and their funding sources are not yet fully clear, multiple industry sources have confirmed the legitimacy of their efforts.
A group of New York City pension funds has asked Delaware judges to issue an injunction to suspend legal and financial work currently underway by Skydance and Redbird. As a shareholder of Paramount Global, the fund argues that the terms are too generous for Redstone as the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global.
Rhode Island is taking a similar step in relation to the state’s Employee Pension Fund, seeking more disclosure of financial details in its transactions. More state-controlled pension funds with in-game skins (i.e. they are the most important global shareholders) are expected to support efforts to delay transaction deadlines.
President Donald Trump doubled CBS’s civil federal lawsuit against “60 minutes.” Currently, they are seeking compensation of $20 billion rather than $10 billion. He ran for the sacrifice he made. Trump’s revised complaints late last week allegedly hurt CBS personally as the owner of social media platform Truth Social, as it generated high praise from Harris’ interviews.
Brendan Kerr, chairman of the newly established Federal Communications Commission, has launched a public comment process for the FCC complaints filed by a conservative law firm against WCBS-TV New York, stating that Harris was “60 minutes.” He accused him of engaging in “news distortion” by airing. Interview from October 2024. CBS News in early February complied with the FCC’s request to take over the full transcript and unedited video from Harris’ interview session.
The FCC was already there in the midst of conducting a regulatory review of the transaction as it would require the transfer of licenses to 28 CBS-owned TV stations from Paramount Global to new owners. The launch of another “60-minute” probe could slow that process.
Any of these developments can easily put considerable M&A transactions at risk. Merging them within a few weeks will plot Team Shari back into Foxhall and save Skydance Redbird transactions. Representatives from Redstone, Paramount Global, Skydance and Redbird declined to comment on the story.
Sources close to Redstone say she has not given up on Ellison’s Skydance and Cardinal’s Redbird contract. Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, Ellison’s father, is also involved in the deal. This can be a help or obstacle depending on how the wind is blowing in DC at any time. Elder Ellison was one of the few Silicon Valley Brahmins that are friendly to Maga since Trump’s first term. However, he is also fighting full-capable Elon Musk over rival ventures, including Openai.
Washington lobbyist Brian Ballard works all sides to reach a settlement agreement between Trump and CBS that smoothes the path to winning the top ski dance transaction celebrated by DC regulators It is said to be. Ballard has deep connections with all involved, including Larry Ellison. He currently represents Paramount Global, but was Trump’s prolific fundraiser.
Paramount Global’s consideration of financial settlements in the Trump federal lawsuit reports that journalists from CBS News and later are wary. The impact on journalism and legal precedents of honor-loss cases can be devastating. The settlement would open the door to such politically motivated challenges for standard journalism and news sales practices.
Anna Gomez, one of the two Democrats at the FCC, is one of the few voices to call Carr with the FCC’s aggressive stance on the “60-minute” complaint. “The FCC is busy implementing the will of the administration,” Gomez said. “These actions set a dangerous precedent that undermines confidence in the role of the agency as an impartial regulator, as our licensing authority is weaponized to reduce media freedom. The FCC has The administration will stop trying to focus on the partisan culture war and instead return to its core focus of protecting consumers, encouraging competition and ensuring communications networks.”
Sources close to the situation say that the size of the CBS case is not lost in Redstone. Insiders argue that consultations are being piloted by CBS leaders, not by Trump’s ally Larry Ellison and the administration aimed at gaining a renowned studio and network. But there’s no doubt that a $8 billion deal on the line will pull the Skydance-Redbird team as far as possible on the backstage lever. The initial agreement between the aspects reached nine months after repeated negotiations of nine months.
Almost all major M&A transactions generate shareholder litigation of varying degrees of severity. However, the surge in challenges from major pension funds sees a reasonable problem that is reasonable enough for judges to place an injunction on final deals while legal battles occur, and Paramount and Sky Dance Redbirds may be too expensive to expand.
For one, Redstone has been accused of violating its fiduciary duty to seek the best price for all shareholders. Paramount Global is one of the few remaining family media empires controlled by what is called dual-class inventory. Redstone has the ultimate in Paramount’s board of directors, with her National Amusements Inc. Holding Company, which manages almost 80% of the board’s voting power, owns priority Class A shares. It sways and screams. Other shareholders own Class B shares that do not carry the same over-voting rights.
The state pension fund and other Class B shareholders have alleged in court that Redstone piloted the transaction to make a profit at the expense of her and her family. The prospect of a long and expensive litigation with strong state funds together can be challenging for Team Ellison.
As if that wasn’t enough plot, there are also the mysteries surrounding the Project Rise Partners bid. After Skydance and Redbird agreed to Paramount Global, there was a 45-day period (later extended to 60 days) in which Paramount’s boards were able to field other offers and compare Skydance-Redbird terms. Supporters of Project Rise quietly maintain that they have sent out a summary of the offer to Paramount Board within its window, but the board’s special committee was not involved with them.
The Go Shop windows in July and August included other last-minute bids, including one from private equity giant Apollo Global Management along with $26 billion Sony Pictures Entertainment.
cash. Another group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. showed interest. In both cases, sources close to Paramount Board informed that the committee saw the red flag associated with the rejected bid. Whether it was uncertainty about fundraising, or whether regulators were questioned about whether private equity would approve such valuable media and entertainment control asset as CBS and Paramount Pictures.
Under the Biden administration, Paramount and other major media players groaned that regulators were way too strict for large mergers and acquisitions. Trump’s reelection was to lead a more business environment, except in the case of companies that suffered his rage. The FCC is an important weapon for Trump. This is because you may refuse to approve the transfer of a license or attempt to impose any terms on the transaction before granting approval to the transaction.
The prospect that the concrete legal claims thrown in “60 minutes” could lead to unraveling the $8 billion deal in Redstone’s fierce battle, or even for one of CBS’s many crime dramas. It would seem that the caf cask is too kafkaesque. But like Redstone, the truth about their stories is often more strange than any fiction.
Additional reports by Tatiana Siegel.
