Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL, ETR:ORC), will control Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) after a group led by his son David takes over the entertainment firm, a regulatory filing has revealed.
David Ellison’s Skydance Media is purchasing National Amusements, the company that controls Paramount, in a deal valued at about $8 billion.
The Ellison family’s special purpose entity Pinnacle Media would own about 77.5% of National Amusements, per the filing with the Federal Communications Commission.
As such, Larry Ellison will replace Shari Redstone as Paramount’s most influential shareholder.
The remaining 22.5% would be owned by an entity affiliated with RedBird Capital Partners, a Skydance investor.
Skydance is acquiring National Amusements for $2.4 billion in cash. It will then merge with Paramount and reduce its debt by about $6 billion.
Upon the deal closing next year, David Ellison will be CEO of Paramount.