Skydance Acquires Paramount in Historic $8 Billion Deal

Skydance has officially acquired control of Paramount in an $8 billion deal to be finalized by summer 2025.

Paramount is a company millions, if not billions, of people know about—bringing classic IPs like Star Trek , Mission: Impossible , Top Gun , and SpongeBob SquarePants to fruition. Skydance has officially announced today that they will be investing around $8 billion in Paramount , and taking control of Paramount in this agreement. This will also position Skydance founder and CEO David Ellison in place as CEO of the new business. A major portion of the deal was that Paramount’s non-executive chair, Shari Redstone, will sell her family’s controlling stake in the company.

Paramount/Paramount Global is the owner of the Paramount film and TV studios, Paramount+, CBS, and cable channels, including Nickelodeon , MTV, and Comedy Central. Paramount+ has been rapidly growing in its great library of exclusive content, such as the Twisted Metal series and the Halo series leading the marketing for the platform.

The buying company noted that they plan to “enhance and reinvigorate marquee Paramount and CBS brands” while improving profitability and investing more in “faster growing” digital platforms. Skydance shared with the press that this acquisition will also boost their video games department. So far, they have two in-house developers and upcoming consoles, Marvel and Star Wars games, as well as The Walking Dead VR game. Their Marvel game is Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, headed by Amy Hennig (Uncharted Games). Hennig is also working on a new Star Wars game for Skydance.

Redstone shared a long message about how far Paramount has come and where she hopes it will go in the future:

“In 1987, my father, Sumner Redstone, acquired Viacom and began assembling and growing the businesses today known as Paramount Global. He had a vision that ‘content was king’ and was always committed to delivering great content for all audiences around the world…Our hope is that the Skydance transaction will enable Paramount’s continued success in this rapidly changing environment. As a longtime production partner to Paramount, Skydance knows Paramount well and has a clear strategic vision and the resources to take it to its next stage of growth. We believe in Paramount and we always will.”

This deal between Paramount and Skydance was said to close the deal by the summer of 2025. Also, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell is stated to take operational reins as president. Despite the deal being made official, this transaction still faces a complicated process of regulatory approvals. This is because the deal involves Paramount Global’s television stations, which triggers the involvement of the FCC.

The new Paramount company will be valued at $28 billion. Skydance agreed to pay $2.4 billion of the total $8 billion to National Amusements, which controls the Paramount group. More on this story will be provided as new details emerge, leading up to the projected closing date in 2025.