“We’re in the business of long term value creation,” David Ellison proclaimed today as the stock of his newly minted Paramount, A Skydance Company leaped double digits in the first week of his reign. As the majority shareholder in the new Paramount, with strong support from Red Bird, Ellison went on to say his plan was not to center on “any one day, we’re looking long term.”
A week ago, a jargon sprouting Ellison seemed less like a mogul in the making and more like the GUY who just got handed the keys to his new Paramount ride and was more eager to take it out for a spin that engage in strategy. Now with a couple of well executed jabs and wins under his belt, the Skydance founder, and his seasoned crew seem more like the masters of the Hollywood octagon.
Still, after a $16 million payout to Donald Trump in the dying days of Shari Redstone’s regime as the $8 billion Skydance takeover awaited FCC approval and POTUS’s suggestions that there was a big buck side deal, the fate and state of CBS News seemed a sore point.
But not to David Ellison.
“Being in the truth business, the trust business is incredibly important to me,” Ellison proclaimed today in Los Angeles of the News division a.k.a. “the home of Walter Cronkite. Repeating phrases he used at the New York huddle with media last week, Ellison said, “one of the things that is important of politicizing this company …we’re an entertainment company first. I’m not going to be in the position of making political comments about anything.”
And then he kinda did, at least more than most Tinseltown execs of late,
“It’s a vital part of our democracy and an honor to be a part of the that institution,” the new boss added in what clearly was messaged as a balm to those worried a bending of the knee to Trump was going to be the new normal at the home of 60 Minutes.
Otherwise, a $7.7 billion UFC deal, ratings and political South Park TKOs, that leaping stock and some high tech moves in the offering have the new Paramount looking like the smartest gang in town – at least until the promised billions in cuts and more hard choices are unveiled. To that, in their second sit-down with the press in a week, CEO Ellison, and his top brass of Jeff Shell, Cindy Holland (who wasn’t at the NYC event), George Cheeks, board member Gerry Cardinale, and Andy Gordon today addressed the elephants and gold rings in the room.
Looking at the big picture and what may stay, be sold or be shuttered, Ellison kept it big with a pledge to not cut loose BET and “keep the company together and invest.” Weaving away from any interest in buying R added, “We are going to get to the other side of the lake,” he noted, with an emphasis on a tech driven and redundancy slicing “better experience for the user” on streaming platforms and more.
As expected, there was a standard amount of deflection Wednesday from Ellison and his top team, as well as heavy use of the term “excited.” According to Ellison as a publicly traded company his Paramount wasn’t going to play the “rumor and speculation” game, but there certainly was a nice homage to long time pal Tom Cruise and the upcoming Top Gun 3.
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