Paramount Global has reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his lawsuit against CBS News, clearing a path for the media company’s long-delayed merger with Skydance Media.
The settlement, announced at close to midnight Tuesday on the East Coast, calls for Paramount to pay $16 million. Notably, it does not involve a formal apology by the company over its handling of a 60 Minutes interview. Trump sued CBS News and its parent company, Paramount, for $20 billion over 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 it agreed that 60 Minutes in the future will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after those interviews have aired. The release of transcripts will be “subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns,” the company said.
“This lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process,” the company said, reiterating its previous statement on the matter. “We will abide by the legal process to defend our case.”
The FCC review of the transaction had been held up by the suit, though agency chair Brendan Carr has insisted multiple times that the regulatory process and lawsuit are separate. Now, the review can proceed, including a “news distortion” complaint filed against CBS News in the 60 Minutes matter.
Lawmakers, regulatory experts and shareholders have indicated in recent weeks that Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and others involved in any settlement could be liable for bribery. They claim that a monetary settlement would essentially mean the deal participants are effectively paying the government for approval of the merger. Those theories, which have taken root in the context of similar Trump crusades against Disney, NBCUniversal and other media companies (some resulting in payouts to Trump), could well be tested in courts in the coming months.
The Paramount-Skydance deal was formally proposed nearly a year ago, following a months-long period when Redstone evaluated a range of potential suitors. At various times, Sony Pictures (in tandem with private equity firm Apollo), Barry Diller and Byron Allen expressed interest, and an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. also put in a bid during the 45-day “go-shop” period last summer. By and large, though, Skydance had the inside track given its longtime relationship with Paramount Pictures as a co-finance partner. Unlike some buyers, who were said to be ready to dismantle the company’s asset portfolio and potentially unload the fabled Melrose studio lot, Skydance and its CEO, David Ellison, are seen as the most film-friendly buyers of the bunch.
Surprisingly, though, given the close ties between the merger participants, the lack of overlap in the companies’ assets and the bullish outlook for M&A deals at the beginning of 2025, the closing process has been an agonizingly protracted one. Paramount and Skydance had maintained the deal would be wrapped up during the first half of 2025 and already had to exercise their option for a 90-day extension of the contractual merger deadline.
The main culprit in the delay was the Trump suit. As the case wound through the legal and mediation process, the FCC’s approval of the deal remained the lone hurdle. Because Paramount is a controlled company, the merger does not require shareholder approval, though the company’s annual shareholder meeting will take place Wednesday morning.