Shari Redstone, chair of Paramount Global, is set to receive $180 million as her severance pay plus other benefits. The amount is over and above the millions of dollars that she is bound to receive from the sale of her National Amusements shares to Skydance Media.
Redstone owns 20% of National Amusements, which is the controlling shareholder of Paramount. Redstone holds the position through two trusts in her name. With the sale, the Paramount chair is expected to receive a whopping $350 million, Bloomberg reported on Thursday citing "people with knowledge of the matter."
Bloomberg also noted that Skydance's acquisition of Paramount requires group CEO David Ellison to pay off obligations, which includes a severance package for Redstone worth $70 million and a $110 million unfunded pension liability.
Earlier reports also revealed that once Skydance completes the purchase of Redstone's family interest in Paramount, it will be controlled by billionaire Larry Ellison, the co-founder of software giant Oracle.
After the sale, he will be the majority shareholder of National Amusements, owning up to 77.5% of the company. This will be through a series of corporations and trusts, reported Bloomberg as it cited a U.S. Federal Communications Commission filing.
David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, will become the chairman and CEO of Paramount. A spokesperson for Skydance revealed that David Ellison would have operational control of the company, Reuters reported.
David Ellison is leading a group of investors poised to acquire majority control of Paramount, a major film and TV company, for more than $8 billion.
In July, Larry Ellison backed Skydance's acquisition of Paramount, and the deal involved a complex two-stage process. First, Skydance, together with its partner RedBird Capital Partners, will pay $2.4 billion to acquire National Amusements. Then, Skydance would merge with Paramount where the former would offer $4.5 billion in cash or shares. In addition, $1.5 billion will be offered as additional investment recorded in the balance sheet of the movie company.
