Paramount President Jeff Shell is expected to exit the company after being entangled in a legal battle with a controversial Las Vegas gambler and self-styled “fixer.”
Shell has been negotiating his exit and is expected to leave imminently after just eight months on the job, said two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly.
The veteran entertainment executive officially joined the media company with David Ellison’s takeover in August, although he had been a key member of Ellison’s team for nearly two years as the group worked to assemble the pieces of the tech scion’s growing empire. Ellison’s Skydance Media acquired Paramount and then pulled off a stunning $111-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in late February.
Shell brought substantial experience running a media company to Ellison’s inner circle, a group that included former investment bankers and others who haven’t run a large-scale enterprise. Shell also served as a member of Paramount’s board and is expected to leave that role, too.
His exit comes after the high-roller, Robert James “R.J.” Cipriani sued Shell in Los Angeles County Superior Court March 9, alleging fraud and breach of an oral contract. Cipriani claimed that he provided Shell with “sophisticated, high-value crisis communications services,” according to his suit. He alleged Shell spilled corporate secrets, which Shell has denied, and also failed to deliver on a verbal pledge to help Cipriani develop an English-language version of a Roku TV Spanish music show.
Shell maintains Cipriani fictionalized the two men’s dealings, then spread “false and salacious lies to extract a massive payday.” Cipriani has been seeking $150 million in damages. Shell filed a counterclaim, saying the two men met only twice and that Shell owed him nothing.
The legal skirmish cast a cloud over Shell’s tenure helping lead the company because the Ellisons wanted to stay focused on their Warner Bros. takeover and lining up regulators approvals in the U.S. and abroad. The Cipriani controversy made Shell’s future at Paramount untenable, the sources said.
Shell’s departure comes three years after he was ousted as NBCUniversal chief executive.
NBCUniversal-owner Comcast hired a law firm to investigate him after a CNBC anchor filed an internal sexual harassment claim against him. Shell stepped down, acknowledging that he’d had an “inappropriate relationship” with the journalist, who has since left the company.
The job at Paramount was envisioned to be his second act.
Shell’s dealings with Cipriani began with an August 2024 meeting at litigator Patty Glaser’s Century City office. At the time, Glaser represented both men and urged Cipriani to “cease” his efforts to drum up damaging stories about Shell, who was trying to recover from the scandal that cost him his job at NBC.
The most serious of Cipriani’s allegations was that he made a report about Shell to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission that Shell had discussed highly sensitive Paramount information with him: Paramount’s proposed $7.7 billion deal with the UFC owner to bring the mixed-martial arts fights to CBS and other Paramount outlets. Shell, in his lawsuit, denied the allegation.
Paramount’s brass hired the Gibson Dunn law firm to investigate Shell’s surreptitious dealings with Cipriani. Investigators have been reviewing whether Shell had divulged any secrets. The review is still pending.
It’s unclear whether Ellison will look to bring in other experienced media executives or look to senior Warner Bros. Discovery executives following Paramount’s proposed takeover of that company.
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