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    ‘60 Minutes’ Rebukes Paramount On-Air Over Executive Producer’s Exit

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    The show’s top producer abruptly said last week he was quitting. “Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways,” the correspondent Scott Pelley told viewers.In an extraordinary on-air rebuke, one of the top journalists at “60 Minutes” directly criticized the program’s parent company in the final moments of its Sunday night CBS telecast, its first episode since the program’s executive producer, Bill Owens, announced his intention to resign.“Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways,” the correspondent, Scott Pelley, told viewers. “None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”A spokesman for Paramount had no immediate comment, and has previously declined to comment on Mr. Owens’s departure.Mr. Owens stunned the show’s staff on Tuesday when he said he would leave the highest-rated program in television news over disagreements with Paramount, CBS’s corporate parent, saying, “It’s clear the company is done with me.”Mr. Owens’s comments were widely reported in the press last week. The show’s decision to repeat those grievances on-air may have exposed viewers to the serious tensions between “60 Minutes” and its corporate overseers for the first time.Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, has been intent on securing approval from the Trump administration for a multibillion-dollar sale of her media company to a studio run by the son of Larry Ellison, the tech billionaire.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Paramount’s Shari Redstone Wants a Resolution on President Trump Lawsuit Ahead of Skydance Merger

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      Redstone, who controls Paramount, has been trying to close a merger with the Hollywood studio Skydance. President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News is complicating matters.Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of the entertainment giant Paramount, delivered a crucial message to her board a few weeks ago.For months, Paramount’s lawyers had been jousting with representatives for President Trump, who had sued the company’s CBS News network over its segment on former Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Trump accused the network of deceptively editing the interview; CBS said Trump’s lawsuit was without merit.But when the board gathered this month, Ms. Redstone was clear: She was in favor of resolving the issue, two people familiar with the matter told DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch and The New York Times’s Ben Mullin.As Paramount executives weighed the best course of action, Ms. Redstone said she was in favor of moving forward in a way that would lead to some form of conclusion, including mediation.It was the first time that Ms. Redstone made her wishes known to the full board. Many at CBS News and “60 Minutes,” where Ms. Harris’s interview aired, strongly opposed a settlement.Further complicating the matter: The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing Paramount’s pending deal with Skydance. Some executives said that a settlement would smooth the way to closing the merger, even as others worried that a settlement could be interpreted as bribery for the F.C.C. to clear the Skydance deal. Mr. Trump, for his part, told reporters on Wednesday that the two were not linked.National Amusements, Paramount’s parent company, declined to comment, and Paramount has said that its legal battle with Mr. Trump is unrelated to its deal with Skydance.Ms. Redstone’s carefully written statement did not mention Paramount’s deal with Skydance — but it did underscore the fact that a pending multibillion-dollar lawsuit from the president made it difficult for Paramount to do business. She also said that she was removing herself from day-to-day discussions about the lawsuit.This week, The Times reported that Paramount had agreed to bring in a mediator.Any settlement could be perceived as the latest corporate concession to the White House, including Disney’s $15 million settlement in December and Meta’s $25 million settlement last month. The possibility of a settlement, which is likely to further embolden Mr. Trump’s crusade against the media, has been met with a strong backlash within the CBS ranks and outside the company.Though Ms. Redstone didn’t mention the Skydance deal in her remarks, people familiar with her thinking believe she’s focused on closing the deal.Paramount is also navigating the consequences of doing business under a retributive president. Beyond the Skydance deal, Mr. Trump has made clear his willingness to exact revenge when it comes to companies.“Corporations — particularly these days are often in the cross hairs of policymakers — and they have to navigate that,” Jill Fisch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, told DealBook. “And that’s not easy.” More

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      Sony and Apollo Take Key Step in Bid for Paramount’s Assets

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      The two companies have expressed interest in acquiring the media conglomerate, but are backing away from their $26 billion all-cash offer.Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management have taken a significant step forward in their effort to court Paramount, three people familiar with the matter said on Friday.The two companies have signed nondisclosure agreements with Paramount, allowing them to look at Paramount’s nonpublic financial information, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss active negotiations. Paramount previously shared materials with another suitor, the Hollywood studio Skydance.Early this month, Sony and Apollo sent Paramount a nonbinding expression of interest in acquiring the company for $26 billion. The two had been seeking to buy Paramount for its studio and then sell off other parts of its empire, which includes CBS, cable channels like MTV and the Paramount Plus streaming service.But Sony’s shareholders have fretted over the possible acquisition, given the potential cost of a bid for Paramount and the headwinds facing the subscription streaming business. Sony and Apollo are now contemplating a variety of approaches to acquire the company’s assets, but are backing away from their plan to make an all-cash, $26 billion offer for Paramount, two of the people said.Sony’s new vision for a deal could alter the dynamics of Paramount’s effort to sell itself or merge with another company. Paramount previously rebuffed Sony’s offer to buy just its studio, and Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, has long sought a deal for the entire company.A person familiar with Ms. Redstone’s thinking has said that a breakup of the company is not a deal breaker, depending on the terms, but that she prefers to keep Paramount intact.Ms. Redstone has blessed a deal to sell her stake in National Amusements, Paramount’s parent company, to Skydance, but Skydance’s bid for the entire company has faced significant pushback from Paramount’s common shareholders.Paramount let an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance lapse in recent weeks, but the two are still talking, and Skydance remains interested in a deal.The deal talks are happening at a tumultuous time for Paramount. The company’s chief executive, Bob Bakish, stepped down last month after more than a quarter-century at the company. He was replaced in the interim by three executives running an “office of the C.E.O.”: George Cheeks, the chief executive of CBS; Chris McCarthy, the chairman of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios; and Brian Robbins, the chief executive of Paramount Pictures. More

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      Deal Talks Between Paramount and Skydance Heat Up

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      David Ellison, the founder of the Skydance media company, met with Paramount’s board of directors late last month to discuss the deal.Shari Redstone is getting one step closer to selling her media empire.Paramount, home to one of Hollywood’s most storied movie studios as well as CBS and cable networks like Nickelodeon, has been discussing entering into exclusive talks with the media company Skydance for a potential deal, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions. Moving to exclusive talks would be a significant step forward in a process that has been shrouded in uncertainty for months.Whether the two sides will agree to exclusivity remains to be seen, especially with other investors still pursuing Paramount. Apollo Global Management, an investment firm with more than $500 billion under management, has submitted an $11 billion offer to acquire the Paramount movie studio. Paramount’s board of directors, though, is seeking a deal for the entire company — including its cable channels and CBS — rather than pieces.Apollo continues to evaluate what proposal might most appeal to the company’s board, two people familiar with the situation said. Byron Allen, whose Entertainment Studios owns the Weather Channel, has also expressed interest in acquiring Paramount.Ms. Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, began negotiating with Skydance to sell her stake in the company last year. She controls Paramount through National Amusements, a holding company that owns her voting stock in Paramount. Ms. Redstone has held off on a sale for years, betting that the company’s fortunes would improve as its flagship streaming service, Paramount+, gained momentum.The terms of the deal being discussed would involve Skydance’s buying National Amusements and merging with Paramount. That deal hinges on approval from Paramount’s board, which has for weeks been weighing its options with the help of advisers.Late last month, David Ellison, the tech scion who founded Skydance, met with Paramount’s board committee to discuss his vision for a deal, according to two of the people familiar with the talks. Founded in 2010, Skydance is best known for shepherding blockbusters for Paramount, including movies in the “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” franchises.Representatives for Paramount and Skydance declined to comment, and the financial terms of the deal couldn’t be learned.Paramount’s stock has fallen 18 percent since the start of the year amid headwinds for the media industry. The company is trading at a steep discount to the combined value of Viacom and CBS, which merged to form Paramount in 2019. Paramount+ is still losing money, but its losses have slowed and it continues to add subscribers.The ratings agency S&P Global downgraded Paramount’s debt to junk last week, citing “accelerating declines” in its traditional television business and continued uncertainty in its push toward streaming. Some analysts said that ratings action might make Paramount easier to acquire, since it could circumnavigate a provision that would require a buyer to immediately pay the company’s debt. More