FILE - The main gate to Paramount Studios is seen on Melrose Avenue, July 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. Entertainment giant Paramount has agreed to merge with Skydance, a deal that will hand over control of the company that owns CBS and the studio behind blockbuster films such “Top Gun″ and ”The Godfather." The new combined company is valued at around $28 billion.
Skydance, based in Santa Monica, California, has helped produce some major Paramount hits in recent years. Those include several Tom Cruise films including “Top Gun: Maverick” and installments of the “Mission Impossible” series. David Ellison will be chairman and chief executive officer of what’s being called New Paramount. The agreement still needs regulatory approval.
Paramount has struggled in an evolving media landscape, particularly as its traditional cable business has declined. To capture today’s growing streaming audience, the companyused National Amusements, his family’s movie theater chain, to build a vast media empire that included CBS and Viacom, which have merged and separated a number of times over the years. Most recently, the companies re-joined forces in 2019, undoing the split consummated in 2006.