Shari and the Jeffs

shari redstone
What most long-suffering Paramount Global shareholders want most of all right now is the chance for a fresh start, after years of watching Shari and her team fritter away billions in value. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
June 2, 2024

Have we finally, at long last, reached the Paramount Global endgame? It’s increasingly looking that way. On Friday, my partner Matt Belloni first reported that the special committee of the Paramount board of directors had blessed the deal proposed by a consortium led by David Ellison of Skydance Media and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital, after the group sweetened its bid over the course of the last week. On Sunday afternoon, the Journal reported that the sweetener included an offer to buy nonvoting shares at $15 each, or the option to roll them into the new deal, a premium of about 25 percent to Friday’s close. But whether the board’s recommendation is good enough for Shari Redstone remains to be seen. She alone is the decider.