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Media|Larry Ellison Will Control Paramount After Merger
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/business/media/paramount-skydance-larry-ellison.html
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An F.C.C. filing shows that companies affiliated with Mr. Ellison will own most of the voting interest currently held by Shari Redstone.
When the takeover of Paramount was announced in July, the Skydance founder David Ellison was introduced as the new mogul atop the parent company of CBS and MTV.
But a new document filed with the Federal Communications Commission indicates that his father — Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle — will be the real power behind the throne, replacing Shari Redstone as the company’s most influential shareholder.
The document, obtained by The New York Times, lists Larry Ellison at the top of an organizational chart of the companies that will acquire the majority of Paramount’s voting interest currently owned by Ms. Redstone.
The document, part of an application to the Federal Communications Commission to transfer control of Paramount’s TV stations, lays out the complex web of companies that will acquire Ms. Redstone’s controlling stake. Pinnacle Media, the Ellison family investment vehicle, will own 77.5 percent of the voting interest currently owned by Ms. Redstone, according to the document. The rest will go to an entity affiliated with RedBird Capital Partners, which backs Skydance.
Larry Ellison’s financial backing of his son’s $8 billion bid to take over Paramount has long been public. But his position in the corporate hierarchy had not been widely known.
“Maybe Larry Ellison will give David free rein,” said Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School. “Perhaps, Larry will call all the shots, or maybe just the big shots. We just don’t know. It seems, however, that Larry Ellison will have ultimate control.”