Entertainment

Paramount Goes Back to Square One After Rebuffing Skydance

  • Media giant is loaded with debt and losing TV audiences
  • Other suitors expressed interest but there’s no easy path
Shari Redstone backed down from a proposed deal to merge Paramount Global with Skydance MediaPhotographer: Martina Albertazzi/Bloomberg
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Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone walked away from a deal to sell her family’s media empire to independent producer David Ellison, but she’ll have to agree to an offer from someone eventually, because keeping the status quo isn’t an option.

The heiress rejected Ellison’s latest proposal on Tuesday after lengthy negotiations and a professed preference for the deal she believed would be in the best interests of her family and the company’s legacy. After months of resistance from company management and shareholders that prompted Ellison to revise his offer, Redstone suddenly changed her mind.