For Whom Shell Tolls

jeff shell
Jeff Shell has built his career around sports broadcasting and shrewd rights dealmaking. Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
John Ourand
July 9, 2024

At long last, David Ellison’s Skydance and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital were able to sweeten their offer for Shari Redstone’s long-suffering National Amusements holding company enough to get her to yes, consummating an $8 billion takeover-via-merger of Paramount Global. Among other things, the deal puts to rest a number of patently grimmer scenarios for the employees of the Redstone heirloom, particularly on the CBS Sports side. A stalking horse offer financed by Sony and Apollo posed all kinds of potential antitrust and sell-off headaches, for instance. And the status quo, which had the company under the management of three interim C.E.O.s known on Wall Street as the Pep Boys, was a source of great uncertainty. As I reported recently, executives at the NFL had been sweating the long-term financial health of their longtime broadcast partner.