Paramount and Skydance merger is far from a done deal
Paramount and Skydance merger is far from a done deal
FCC chairman Brendan Carr suggests that a review of the deal by his agency is far from complete.
To say that the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media has been a fraught would be a decided understatement. The deal is already the subject of multiple lawsuits, and is still awaiting the end of a review from the Federal Communications Commission as well. That review hasn’t made much progress, according to new FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who says the process is far from wrapping up.
Key Details:
- Carr says the FCC hasn’t “made a lot of progress” on the Paramount/Skydance review.
- President Donald Trump is still in the midst of a lawsuit against Paramount-owned CBS.
- Paramount has been sued by employee retirement funds in two states over the deal, as well.
When asked about the Paramount and Skydance merger by reporters last week, Carr said, “At this point we haven’t made a lot of progress on any transaction at the agency. We are a couple of weeks in. We are still doing our deep dive briefings with the teams that are working on these.”
The reticence to get more deeply into the merger could have something to do with Carr’s boss. President Donald Trump is still in the midst of a lawsuit against the Paramount-owned broadcast network CBS, whose esteemed news magazine “60 Minutes” is accused of editing an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to portray her more favorably during last year’s election, according to the suit.
Carr has also revived a complaint by the Center for American Rights regarding that interview, while Democrats and other opponents of the administration say that it is being weaponized to punish the president’s perceived enemies. The merger is over 100 days into the informal 180-day review process normally followed by the FCC, and it appears to be stuck in the political mud.
Skydance CEO David Ellison’s billionaire father Larry Ellison is a major Trump supporter, which could help smooth things over for the deal. But it faces other challenges; the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island is suing over potential corporate wrongdoing in the transaction, and pension funds representing New York City employees are also using legal action to try to pause the merger in its tracks.
The Paramount and Skydance merger has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, so it has cleared at least one governmental hurdle. But larger obstacles loom, and the FCC’s review of the deal is a big one that Paramount and Skydance must overcome if they want to consummate their transaction.
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