Paramount and Donald Trump have officially settled their long-running dispute over a 60 Minutes segment. The studio will pay the current U.S. president $16 million, a move that may pave the way for David Ellison’s long-awaited Skydance merger. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni unpack what’s next for Paramount and how an Ellison takeover could reshape the company.
What about Bob? Disney’s $16 million settlement with Trump set a precedent born of fears the Supreme Court might upend press protections; a decision that’s now rippling through the industry in unsettling ways. “I think Bob Iger argues that one of the reasons for settling was because, if this turned into a lawsuit that went before the Supreme Court, it could overturn precedents,” Masters explains. “But at the same time, that precedent has now led to this, and it's a remarkable moment to me in American history.”
Catch 22? With Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden calling for an inquiry over the settlement, Paramount also waits anxiously for word from the FCC on its stalled Skydance merger. “Paramount’s choices are, ‘you make the best possible settlement with Trump that you can, or you take this to trial in a very winnable case, which will cause you to spend a lot of money in defending it,’” says Belloni. “In normal circumstances you would be willing to do that, but it also potentially sabotages an $8 billion transaction and a way that this company can, at least in theory, be set up for the future.”
Sky(dance) and the Paramount of tomorrow? If the FCC approves the merger, questions linger over Skydance CEO David Ellison’s plans for Paramount. “He has promised $2 billion in cost cuts from Paramount and that's going to translate into more layoffs, more consolidation, and less investment in certain areas,” Belloni notes. “But I do think after a certain amount of kind of throat clearing and base setting at the company, they are going to start to invest. And the key factor here is Larry Ellison and Larry Ellison's money, which will someday become David Ellison's money, and that is the kind of money necessary to compete in a big tech dominated ecosystem here.”