Paramount expects to complete Skydance deal by summer
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Paramount Global expects to finalize its sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media by the summer, the company said Wednesday, confirming its timeline after encountering turbulence at the Federal Communications Commission.
Executives at the two companies had hoped to complete the deal by mid-April.
The guidance came as Paramount reported fourth-quarter earnings, which missed analysts’ expectations. Paramount posted a loss of $224 million for the quarter, compared with $514 million in profit from the same period a year earlier.
The earnings report comes at a turbulent time for the company. In recent days, Paramount agreed to enter a mediation process to settle a $20-billion lawsuit from President Trump over edits to a CBS “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump amended his lawsuit in Texas this month, alleging the edits to the “60 Minutes” interview amounted to consumer fraud.
Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone has been pushing for a truce, hoping a settlement will help pave the way for the sale of her family’s interests to the Ellison clan.
However, the Paramount-Skydance transaction still needs the approval of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who this month opened a news distortion inquiry into the “60 Minutes” broadcast. The investigation isn’t expected to be completed until late March at the earliest.
President Trump filed a $10-billion lawsuit alleging CBS deceptively edited the Kamala Harris interview. CBS publicly released the transcripts and footage after turning the material over to the FCC.
Ellison and his team also are eager to take the keys to Paramount, which includes CBS, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and the Paramount+ streaming service. Currently, a trio of Paramount executives run the company.
The “60 Minutes” interview became an unlikely sticking point.
Journalists have urged top executives and Paramount board members to support the news division and its leaders despite pressure from Trump. Morale in the news division is strained, according to insiders.
CBS News has acknowledged that it aired a partial answer by Harris to a question asked during the October interview. But CBS producers say they quoted Harris accurately. Video of the unedited interview, released this month by the FCC and CBS, confirmed the network’s account.
However, the video shined a harsh light on Harris’ performance. In a question about the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, Harris gave a jumbled answer, which was clipped to its most cogent sentence for the broadcast.
News organizations routinely edit interviews, removing extraneous words and redundant phrases.
In addition to the “60 Minutes” interview controversy, critics have focused on Chinese media company Tencent’s minority stake in Skydance as an obstacle to approval. Some conservatives and lawmakers have suggested that the FCC should look closely at Tencent‘s involvement.
Like other media companies, Paramount is dialing back its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in order to comply with Trump’s policy. On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery alerted employees that its DEI program would now just be called “Inclusion.”
“We are undertaking this evolution thoughtfully,” Warner division leaders wrote in a memo to staff announcing that they were working to “develop a refreshed strategy that aligns with both our business priorities and core values.”
The two media companies announced a new deal Saturday night. Paramount’s streaming service will be offered as an add-on to YouTube TV customers.
Paramount’s fourth-quarter earnings included a $286-million loss in its streaming division, which includes Paramount+ and Pluto TV. The deficit marked an improvement over the fourth quarter of 2023, when Paramount lost $490 million pursuing its streaming ambitions.
Paramount+ in the quarter added 5.6 million subscribers — its best performance in two years — to reach a total of 77.5 million.The company said its streaming unit should achieve domestic annual profitability this year. Full-year streaming revenue grew 8% compared with 2023.
Overall, Paramount reported quarterly revenue of $7.98 billion, falling short of analysts’ expectations.
Television revenue slipped 4% to $4.98 billion, reflecting lower advertising sales and fewer sporting events on CBS.
Affiliate fees and subscription revenue fell 7% as more pay-TV customers sliced the cord. However, TV licensing and other revenue inched up 3% to $911 million for the quarter.
At Paramount Pictures, filmed entertainment posted an adjusted operating loss of $42 million. It managed to grow revenue to $1 billion with releases including “Gladiator II” and “Sonic the Hedgehog.” That was up from $647 million generated in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Paramount shares closed up less than 1% at $11.24 on Thursday but fell about 1.5% in after-hours trading.
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