Viacom President and CEO Bob Bakish attends day four of Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley Conference on July 11, 2023 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
David A. Grogan | David A. Grogan CNBC
Paramount Worldwide The company announced on Monday that Chief Executive Bob Bakish would resign as merger talks with Skydance Media continue.
Paramount reports first-quarter earnings after the bell on Monday.
The ouster comes as Paramount and Skydance Media are one step closer to merging, according to previous reports by CNBC. The companies are in exclusive negotiations for the deal until May 3, and a special committee has been put in place.
According to CNBC, Bakish privately expressed opposition to the merger, claiming that it would dilute the interests of common shareholders. As part of the proposed deal, nearly 50% of the combined company will be owned by Skydance and its private equity backers, while common shareholders will own the remaining shares of Paramount, which will continue to be publicly traded.
On Saturday, CNBC reported that Bakish could step down as CEO as early as Monday ahead of an earnings call after losing the trust of Paramount Worldwide controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who Bakish’s removal may be seen as a means to speed up the Skydance deal.
The departures come as Paramount has been in talks with cable company Charter Communications over the operation of its television networks, including CBS and MTV. The deadline for those negotiations is Tuesday.
Special Committee (responsible for accepting or rejecting the deal) and Skydance, which is backed by private equity firms KKR According to previous reports by CNBC, Skydance and RedBird Capital Partners have been discussing how to value Skydance’s assets in a merger and how much equity to add to the company.
According to a previous report by CNBC, Skydance intends to appoint its CEO David Ellison to head Paramount Pictures if the deal goes through.
—CNBC’s Alex Sherman contributed to this report.
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