RPT-BREAKINGVIEWS-Paramount saga presses pause on some TV deals

By Jennifer Saba

NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Paramount Global’s PARA.O deal has reached rockier terrain. In fresh signs of complication for its $8.4 billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, the owner of the CBS broadcast network just nominated three new directors and replaced its chief financial officer as it awaits U.S. regulatory approval. President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the renowned “60 Minutes” news program is the wildcard that threatens to delay some industry consolidation.

Home to the “Mission: Impossible” movie franchise, Paramount is scrambling to cope with its limbo state nearly a year after controlling shareholder Shari Redstone agreed to the controversial sale. CFO Naveen Chopra decamped earlier this week and the company’s three-headed CEO office is planning deeper job cuts. Moreover, it tapped attorney Mary Boies and two others to expand the shrunken board, partly to prepare for a possible independent future.

A U.S. Federal Communications Commission review has dragged on, muddled by Trump’s accusations that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with his campaign rival Kamala Harris. Paramount, which needs agency approval to transfer its TV licenses, offered $15 million to settle the case, but the president has asked for $20 billion and spurned it, according to media reports. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr also rejected CBS’ request to dismiss the complaint.

Although Paramount’s shares have gained 15% this year, they trade one-fifth below Skydance’s $15 cash-and-stock offer. Redstone has one more extension available, but if things aren’t sewn up by October, either side can walk away.

Even if they work it out, the situation is problematic for Brian Roberts, Bob Iger and David Zaslav, respective bosses of Comcast CMCSA.O, Walt Disney DIS.N and Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O. All three are mapping out M&A as part of an industry-wide video-streaming shakeup, but also own news networks that irritate the TV-watcher-in-chief.

Trump has made derisive remarks about MSNBC, one of the cable networks being spun out by Comcast. CNN, now part of WBD’s similar breakup, came into play when AT&T T.N bought Time Warner during the former reality-TV star’s first term in the Oval Office. Disney opted to donate $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to resolve his defamation lawsuit against ABC News.

Being in the White House’s crosshairs threatens to impede these moguls as their peers strike deals, such as Charter Communications’ CHTR.O $35 billion takeover of cable rival Cox Communications. Buyout firm Apollo Global Management APO.N is shopping its portfolio of TV stations, too. For them, less news should be good news.

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CONTEXT NEWS

Media conglomerate Paramount Global said on June 9 that Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra is departing for another opportunity and that Andrew Warren, the company’s strategic adviser to the office of the CEO, would add the role of interim CFO.

Paramount, which owns the CBS broadcast network, on June 2 nominated three new directors to expand the board to seven members. The company is awaiting approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, unveiled on July 7, 2024.

Before he was elected U.S. president, Donald Trump sued CBS in October for $10 billion in damages, alleging its news show “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris. Trump doubled his claim for damages to $20 billion in February.