Paramount Global has reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his trial against CBS News, authorizing a path for the delayed merger of the media company with Skydance Media.
The regulations, announced nearly midnight on the east coast on Tuesday, provides that Paramount pays $ 16 million. In particular, it does not imply formal apologies from the company 60 minutes interview. Trump continued CBS News and his parent company, Paramount, for $ 20 billion on the promotion of the interview last fall with former vice-president Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent in the presidential election.
Paramount said in a statement that should be 60 minutes In the future, interviews will publish interviews with the US presidential candidates eligible after the dissemination of these interviews. The release of transcriptions will be “subject to the editorials required for legal or national problems,” said the company.
“This trial is entirely distinct and unrelated to the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process,” said the company, reiterating its previous declaration on the issue. “We will respect the legal process to defend our case.”
The examination of the FCC of the transaction had been exercised by the prosecution, although the president of the Brendan Carr agency has repeatedly insisted that the regulatory process and the trial were separated. Now the exam may proceed, including a complaint of “distortion of news” filed against CBS News in the 60 minutes matter.
Legislators, regulation experts and shareholders have indicated in recent weeks that Paramount, control of shareholders Shari Redstone and other persons involved in any regulations may be responsible for corruption. They say that monetary regulations would essentially mean that participants in the agreement effectively pay the government for the approval of the merger. These theories, which took root in the context of Trump’s crusades similar to Disney, Nbcuniversal and other media societies (some leading to Trump payments), may well be tested in court in the coming months.
The Paramount-Skydance Agreement was officially offered almost a year ago, after a period of several months when Redstone evaluated a range of potential contenders. At various times, Sony Pictures (in tandem with the Inpollo capital company), Barry Diller and Byron Allen expressed their interest, and a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. also made an offer during the “Go-Shop” period of 45 days. Overall, however, Skydance had the interior track given its long -standing relationship with Paramount Pictures as a co -inance partner. Unlike some buyers, who would be ready to dismantle the company’s asset portfolio and potentially discharge the legendary Melrose studio, Skydance and its CEO, David Ellison, are considered the group’s most friendly buyers.
Surprisingly, however, given the close links between the participants in the merger, the lack of overlap of the businesses of the companies and the upward prospects for the mergers and acquisitions agreements at the beginning of 2025, the closing process was an agonizing extension. Paramount and Skydance had maintained that the agreement would be completed during the first half of 2025 and should have already exerted their option for an extension of 90 days of the contractual merger deadline.
The main guilty of the delay was the Trump costume. While the case is injured by the legal and mediation process, the approval by the FCC of the agreement has remained the only obstacle. Because Paramount is a controlled company, the merger does not require the approval of shareholders, although the annual meeting of the shareholders of the company will take place on Wednesday morning.
