New Paramount continues to build its leadership team with another ten executives added ahead of Thursday’s closing of the $8 billion Skydance merger.
TheWrap previously reported that Skydance Television’s Matt Thunell will oversee Paramount Television Studios as president and that former Netflix and Sister executives Jane Wiseman and Efrain Miron would join Cindy Holland’s direct-to-consumer team. Wiseman has been named head of originals, while Miron is head of content strategy and licensing.
Other additions to New Paramount include:
- Skydance feature film president Don Granger as motion picture group president
- NBCUniversal global distribution and international media chairman Kevin MacLellan as international and global content distribution president
- Skydance chief marketing officer Rebecca Mall as president of cross company initiatives, franchise, and corporate marketing
- StubHub’s Kevin Creighton as executive vice president of corporate finance and investor relations
- Former Warner Bros., AT&T and Disney executive Tony Driscoll as head of corporate strategy and development
- Former UPS executive Jose Turkienicz as head of global operations
- Former Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery executive Laura Watson as corporate and executive communications executive vice president.
“These new members of the senior management team bring fresh perspectives shaped by years of industry experience, adding meaningful depth, unrelenting passion, and a shared commitment to building a next-generation media company,” CEO David Ellison said in a statement. “At a time of incredible opportunity for Paramount and our industry, I’m confident these forward-minded leaders will propel our vision and reignite a shared sense of purpose and ambition throughout our teams.”
The latest group of executives join Holland, Ellison, president Jeff Shell, chief operating and strategy officer Andy Gordon, interim chief financial officer Andrew Warren, Paramount Pictures co-chair and Paramount Television chair Dana Goldberg, Paramount Pictures co-chair and vice chair of platforms Josh Greenstein, TV Media chair George Cheeks, general counsel and acting chief legal officer Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon, chief people officer Jim Sterner and chief communications officer Melissa Zukerman.
New Paramount also recently unveiled its board of directors, which includes Ellison, Shell, Gordon, former Paramount chairman and CEO Sherry Lansing, Oracle Corporation CEO Safra A. Catz, RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale, RedBird chairman John L. Thornton, Silver Lake managing director Justin G. Hamill, Lawrence Investments LLC president Paul Marinelli, and current Paramount board director and former Barclays PLC vice chairman Barbara Byrne.
Under the two-step deal, Skydance is set to acquire current controlling shareholder Shari Redstone’s holding company National Amusements, which controls 77.4% of the Paramount Class A common stock outstanding and approximately 9.5% of the overall equity of the company, before merging with the Hollywood studio.
The deal provides $2.4 billion for Redstone, $4.5 billion to non-NAI Paramount shareholders and an additional $1.5 billion in new capital to help pay down debt and recapitalize the company’s balance sheet.
Skydance’s consortium of investors, which includes RedBird Capital Partners and the Ellison family, will control 70% of shares outstanding and have 100% voting ownership in New Paramount. The combined company will have an enterprise value of $28 billion, while Skydance is being valued at $4.75 billion.
Per the Federal Communications Commission’s final order approving the transaction, David Ellison will grant Sayonara LLC, which is controlled by his father and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison through a revocable trust, a voting interest equal to approximately 35.5%. Meanwhile, the elder Ellison’s Pinnacle Media will grant the younger Ellison 64.5% of its respective voting interest in NAI. Sayonara will not have any “veto rights, or any special or outsized voting rights,” in NAI or New Paramount as a result of the minority voting interest.
Upon closing of the deal, Paramount will begin trading on the Nasdaq under new ticker symbol: PSKY.
