Paramount Skydance Corporation

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Paramount Skydance Corporation

Prototype logo used since 2024
Company type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq: PSKY
Industry	Media Entertainment
Predecessors	Paramount Global National Amusements Skydance Media
Founded	August 7, 2025; 11 days' time (2025-08-07)
Founder	David Ellison
Headquarters	Santa Monica, California U.S. or New York City
Key people	David Ellison (chairman and CEO) Jeff Shell (president)
Products	Films music television programs web portals
Services	Licensing broadcasting streaming television
Owner	David Ellison
Divisions	Paramount Pictures CBS Entertainment Paramount Media Networks Paramount International Networks Paramount Streaming Paramount Consumer Products Paramount Global Content Distribution Skydance Pictures Skydance Television Skydance Animation Skydance Interactive Skydance Sports Skydance Nocturna Skydance Development Skydance Productions
Subsidiaries	List of assets owned by Paramount Skydance

Paramount Skydance Corporation (also known as Paramount Skydance or Paramount) is an upcoming American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. The company will be formed through the 2025 merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media, set to be completed by August 7.^[1] The company will be headquartered in Santa Monica, California or New York City with corporate offices also located in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London.

Paramount Pictures, CBS, Viacom, and Skydance Media each had a history of being associated with oneanother through a series of various corporate mergers, splits, and partnerships.

Paramount Pictures was founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company.CBS was founded in 1927, which Paramount Pictures held a 49 percent ownership stake in from 1929 to 1932.

In 1952, CBS formed CBS Television Film Sales, a division which handled syndication rights for CBS's library of network-owned television series. This division was renamed CBS Films in 1958, again renamed CBS Enterprises in January 1968, and finally renamed Viacom (an acronym of Video and Audio Communications) in 1970. In 1971, this syndication division was spun off amid new FCC rules forbidding television networks from owning syndication companies (these rules were eventually abolished completely in 1993). Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures was acquired by Gulf and Western Industries in 1966, which then re-branded itself as Paramount Communications in 1989.

In 1986, Viacom purchased MTV Networks and Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc. from Warner Communications and American Express. In 1987, Viacom was acquired by theater operator company National Amusements.

Viacom then purchased Paramount Communications in 1994. In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation (the renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which had merged with CBS in 1995). The merger was completed in 2000, resulting in CBS reuniting with its former syndication division.

On December 31, 2005, Viacom was split into two companies: the second incarnation of CBS Corporation, the former's corporate successor, and the second incarnation of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off.

Skydance Media was founded in 2006 by David Ellison.

On September 29, 2016, National Amusements, the parent company of CBS Corporation and Viacom, wrote to Viacom and CBS Corporation encouraging the two companies to merge back into one company. On December 12, the deal was called off.

On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their merger; the combined company was to be named ViacomCBS, with Shari Redstone serving as chair. Upon the merger agreement, Viacom and CBS jointly announced that the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. The merger required approval by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

On October 28, 2019, the merger was approved by National Amusements, which then announced the deal would close in early December; the recombined company trades its shares on Nasdaq under the symbols "VIAC" and "VIACA" after CBS Corporation delisted its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

On November 25, 2019, Viacom and CBS announced the merger would close on December 4 and begin trading on Nasdaq on the next day. On December 4, 2019, Bakish confirmed that the ViacomCBS merger had closed. ViacomCBS was renamed Paramount Global in 2022.

In 2023, after grappling with debt and striving to remain competitive in the entertainment industry, Paramount's parent company, National Amusements, explored potential merger and acquisition opportunities for Paramount Global. Numerous prominent companies, such as Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apollo Global Management, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Allen Media Group, and Skydance Media, had indicated their interest in exploring potential business partnerships or purchasing the company.^[2]

After first coming to a merger deal with Skydance, Paramount and Skydance canceled the proposed merger on June 11 due to unsatisfactory conversations. Following a break in the talks, Skydance was able to reach a preliminary agreement on July 2, 2024, to perform a 3-way merger between it, National Amusements, and Paramount to establish what was then known as "New Paramount".^[3] After the merger closes, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison will become the chairman and CEO of the combined company and Jeff Shell will be the president.^[4]

The deal was expected to close in the first half of 2025, pending required regulatory approvals, according to reports.^[5] If the deal wasn't closed by April 7, 2025, subject to two automatic 90 day extensions, or if the deal is blocked by a government regulator, either party can end the deal, with Paramount having to pay a $400 million termination fee.^[6] Paramount said in February 2025 and May 2025 that it expected the transaction to close within the first half of the year, but it did not happen.^[7][8] With the deal not yet approved, the first automatic extension to July 7, 2025 went into effect on April 8, 2025,^[9][10] after which the second automatic extension to October 4, 2025 went into effect on July 7, 2025.^[11][12] The SEC and the European Commission (EC) approved the transaction in February 2025.^[13]

On July 22, 2025, it was reported that Oracle Corporation was in talks with Skydance Media for a $100 million-per-year contract to provide cloud software once the latter's acquisition of Paramount Global is completed.^[14]

On July 24, 2025, the FCC approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media with the merger set to be complete by August 7, 2025.^[15]

Paramount Skydance comprises seven major units:

• Paramount Pictures Corporation, the company's namesake division, consists of Paramount Studio Group (physical studio and post-production), production facilities and lot, and archives for restoration/preservation for Paramount Home Entertainment and Music.
  • Paramount Motion Picture Group focuses on theatrical film production and distribution, including film releases under the Paramount Animation, Paramount Players and Nickelodeon Movies labels in addition to the flagship Paramount Pictures label. Other assets include Republic Pictures and Miramax.^[16]
  • Paramount Television Group focuses on its television production facilities such as CBS Studios, CBS Media Ventures, Big Ticket Television, Nickelodeon Productions and MTV Entertainment Studios.
• Paramount Media Networks encompasses the pay television channels owned by Paramount in the United States such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TV Land, Paramount Network, Logo, CMT, Pop TV, Showtime, The Movie Channel, Flix, VH1, the Smithsonian Channel and AwesomenessTV.
• Paramount Streaming focuses on the global over-the-top streaming services, and encompasses Paramount+, Pluto TV, SkyShowtime (50% with Comcast through Sky Group), CBS News 24/7, CBS Sports HQ, and an undisclosed stake in FuboTV, which it acquired in 2020.^[17]
• CBS Entertainment oversees CBS, CBS News, and CBS Sports. It has a 12.5% ownership stake in The CW along with the Warner Bros. Television Group unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, and oversees the BET Media Group, which owns channels with the BET name.
• Paramount International Networks encompasses certain international versions of their television channels split into three regional hubs: United Kingdom and Australia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia (EMEAA), and the Americas, as well as region-specific networks (such as Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, Network 10 in Australia, Telefe in Argentina, and Chilevisión in Chile). It also co-owns all CBS-branded channels across Europe with AMC Networks International.
• Paramount Experiences focuses on the retailing and licensing of merchandising for Paramount Consumer Products, and also consists of some theme parks.^[18]
• Paramount Global Content Distribution serves as the international television distribution arm for Paramount's television networks and streaming services.

Other businesses that will be part of Paramount Skydance will include the current subsidiaries of Skydance Media such as Skydance Pictures and Skydance Animation, and the current subsidiaries of National Amusements such as Showcase Cinemas and the Brazilian business of UCI Cinemas.