Four Paramount board members to step down amid talks to merge with Skydance: report

Four members on the board of Shari Redstone’s Paramount Global are expected to exit the entertainment giant amid merger talks with Skydance Media, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday,  citing people familiar with the situation.

Earlier this month, a source told Reuters that Paramount’s board agreed to enter exclusive merger talks with Skydance Media, led by CEO David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

A merger could result in Ellison combining Paramount with his independent media house that is behind films such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.”

Paramount declined to comment on the report that said former Spotify executive Dawn Ostroff, Sony Entertainment ex-president Nicole Seligman,Redstone attorney Rob Klieger and Frederick Terrell, a veteran investment banking executive, were expected to step down in coming weeks, the Journal reported.

Seligman, who is also on the board of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Ostroff and Terrell are on a special committee of independent directors tasked with pursuing the best possible deal for Paramount, whether that is with Skydance or another suitor, the report added.

Klieger did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment and the other two directors could not be immediately reached.

The potential departures would reduce Paramount’s board to eight members.

The exits could be disclosed in an SEC filing by Paramount as soon as this week, the report said.

Shares fell 5% on Wednesday.