(UPI) — Skydance Media and Paramount Global have completed their merger, creating a new media conglomerate and ending months of turmoil over the deal that has drawn allegations of corruption directed at the Trump administration.
The new company — Paramount, a Skydance Corporation — began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticket symbol PSKY on Thursday, the day the merger completed.
“Today marks an exciting and pivotal moment as we prepare to bring Paramount’s legacy as a Hollywood institution into the future of entertainment,” David Ellison, CEO and chairman of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, said in a statement.
“It is truly an honor and a privilege to help lead this iconic brand into its next chapter.”
Skydance announced the deal in July of last year, but the merger was hung up as President Donald Trump sparred with CBS News, a Paramount Global subsidiary.
Trump sued CBS News during his re-election campaign for $10 billion over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with his political opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris. He later upped the damages to $20 billion after winning re-election.
Despite many saying it was litigation that was “meritless” and that Trump wouldn’t win, Paramount Global reached a $16 million settlement with Trump last month. The president then said Skydance has pledged $20 million more in advertising, PSAs and other programming, for a total of $36 million.
The deal attracted allegations from Democrats and critics that it was a bribe and an attack on free speech.
After the settlement was reached, the FCC voted 2-1 in favor of the merger, with the commissioners stating that Skydance has made several assurances to the Trump administration over content and that it will not establish any diversity, equity and inclusion policies — an ideology that seeks to create inclusion environments that the far-right president has been seeking to remove from both public and private sectors on the grounds of alleged discrimination.
Commissioner Anna Gomez, who assumed office under the Biden administration, lambasted the merger in a warning that it will not be the last time Trump threatens the First Amendment.
In a statement Thursday, she said the completion of the Skydance-Paramount merger marks the final chapter “of a dark moment in our nation’s history.”
She said the new company is “born in shame” for trading away First Amendment principles for profit, while agreeing to “never-before-seen forms of government control over newsroom decisions and editorial judgement.”
A so-called government-approved “truth arbiter” will be at CBS, with the role of ensuring journalists “do not criticize this administration or express views that conflict with its agenda,” she said.
“Sadly, this will not be the end of this administration’s campaign of intervention in media to silence critics, gain favorable coverage and impose ideological conformity on newsrooms that should remain independent,” she said.
“With longstanding institutions like CBS compromised in this way, it will be up to us — as citizens — to hold this administration accountable for its abuses.”
The announcement also comes as Trump has targeted public broadcasting.
In May, he signed an executive order to halt funding to PBS and NPR, while calling the public news broadcasters “biased.”
(UPI) — Skydance Media and Paramount Global have completed their merger, creating a new media conglomerate and ending months of turmoil over the deal that has drawn allegations of corruption directed at the Trump administration.
The new company — Paramount, a Skydance Corporation — began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticket symbol PSKY on Thursday, the day the merger completed.
“Today marks an exciting and pivotal moment as we prepare to bring Paramount’s legacy as a Hollywood institution into the future of entertainment,” David Ellison, CEO and chairman of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, said in a statement.
“It is truly an honor and a privilege to help lead this iconic brand into its next chapter.”
Skydance announced the deal in July of last year, but the merger was hung up as President Donald Trump sparred with CBS News, a Paramount Global subsidiary.
Trump sued CBS News during his re-election campaign for $10 billion over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with his political opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris. He later upped the damages to $20 billion after winning re-election.
Despite many saying it was litigation that was “meritless” and that Trump wouldn’t win, Paramount Global reached a $16 million settlement with Trump last month. The president then said Skydance has pledged $20 million more in advertising, PSAs and other programming, for a total of $36 million.
The deal attracted allegations from Democrats and critics that it was a bribe and an attack on free speech.
After the settlement was reached, the FCC voted 2-1 in favor of the merger, with the commissioners stating that Skydance has made several assurances to the Trump administration over content and that it will not establish any diversity, equity and inclusion policies — an ideology that seeks to create inclusion environments that the far-right president has been seeking to remove from both public and private sectors on the grounds of alleged discrimination.
Commissioner Anna Gomez, who assumed office under the Biden administration, lambasted the merger in a warning that it will not be the last time Trump threatens the First Amendment.
In a statement Thursday, she said the completion of the Skydance-Paramount merger marks the final chapter “of a dark moment in our nation’s history.”
She said the new company is “born in shame” for trading away First Amendment principles for profit, while agreeing to “never-before-seen forms of government control over newsroom decisions and editorial judgement.”
A so-called government-approved “truth arbiter” will be at CBS, with the role of ensuring journalists “do not criticize this administration or express views that conflict with its agenda,” she said.
“Sadly, this will not be the end of this administration’s campaign of intervention in media to silence critics, gain favorable coverage and impose ideological conformity on newsrooms that should remain independent,” she said.
“With longstanding institutions like CBS compromised in this way, it will be up to us — as citizens — to hold this administration accountable for its abuses.”
The announcement also comes as Trump has targeted public broadcasting.
In May, he signed an executive order to halt funding to PBS and NPR, while calling the public news broadcasters “biased.”
The post Skydance, Paramount Merger Closes appeared first on Breitbart.
