S&C is advising RedBird Capital Partners as an investor, along with the Ellison family, in a deal that will preserve the over 100-year-old legacy of Paramount Global as one of Hollywood’s most iconic production companies and CBS’s stature as a cherished source of news and entertainment.
Skydance Media and Paramount have signed an agreement to form “New Paramount” by way of a two-step transaction that includes the acquisition of National Amusements—which holds the controlling share stake in Paramount—and subsequently a merger of Skydance and Paramount. Skydance Investor Group, which is comprised of the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners, will invest more than $8 billion in New Paramount and to acquire National Amusements.
Under the terms of the deal, Skydance Media will merge with Paramount in a transaction valuing New Paramount at an enterprise value of approximately $28 billion and Skydance at $4.75 billion.
Skydance Investor Group will invest $2.4 billion to acquire National Amusements and invest $4.5 billion for the cash/stock consideration, as well as $1.5 billion of primary capital to be added to New Paramount’s balance sheet.
New Paramount will combine the Skydance Investor Group’s financial resources, operating experience and expertise in cutting-edge technology with Paramount’s intellectual property, film and television library, and linear and streaming platforms.
The S&C team advising RedBird Capital includes Alison Ressler, Eric Krautheimer, Ari Blaut, Isaac Wheeler, Juan Rodriguez, Mitchell Friedman and Renata Hesse.
S&C’s Sports & Entertainment practice provides clients with unified best-in-class advice on virtually any transactional, litigation, tax or planning legal issue that arises within these industries. In recent years we have advised:
- Anheuser Busch InBev in its agreement to become a Worldwide Olympic Partner through 2028, marking the first beer sponsorship for the Olympics at the Worldwide Olympic Partner level.
- AT&T in the spin-off of its WarnerMedia business into a combination with Discovery, valued at $106.5 billion; and as an investor in Hello Sunshine, a media company founded by Reese Witherspoon, in connection with the sale of a majority interest in Hello Sunshine to Blackstone.
- Bill Ackman, CEO and portfolio manager of Pershing Square Capital Management, as he co-led an equity raise for The Professional Tennis Players Association’s launch of Winners Alliance, which was launched to generate and maximize off-the-court commercial opportunities for players.
- Centerview Partners, acting as financial adviser to the Special Committee of global sports and entertainment company Endeavor Group Holdings, in connection with Endeavor’s agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Silver Lake in an all-cash take-private deal valued at approximately $13 billion.
- DraftKings in its acquisition of Jackpocket, the first licensed third-party lottery app in the United States, in an approximately $750 million cash and stock transaction.
- Frank McCourt and his affiliated entities in the $2.15 billion sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and Dodgers Stadium, in the acquisition of Olympique de Marseille from Margarita Louis-Dreyfus and all ongoing ownership matters.
- Madison Square Garden Entertainment in the spin-off of its traditional live entertainment businesses, now known as Sphere Entertainment, and the spun-out entity has been renamed MSG Entertainment. Both companies are now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
- Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball in a variety of litigation matters including winning a favorable ruling compelling Diamond Sports Group’s regional sports networks to pay the full fees due under their telecast rights agreements with four teams; in substantially all of its ownership, governance and other transactional matters; and MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) in numerous transactional matters, including in MLBAM’s formation of BAMTech (a digital streaming technology business) and the Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of all of MLBAM’s interests in BAMTech.
- RedBird Capital Partners in connection with its, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s launch of Artists Equity.
- Wasserman Media Group in its acquisitions of Brillstein Entertainment Partners and London-based global sports and entertainment agency CSM Sport and Entertainment Holdings.