Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s late-night tenures face an unsure future as Skydance Media CEO David Ellison’s $8billion Paramount takeover has stalled for a second time, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
A second 90-day extension was enacted concerning the merger between Paramount, the father or mother firm of Colbert and Stewart’s networks, CBS, and Comedy Central, respectively, on July 7.
The extension has purchased regulators, executives, and the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) extra time to work out the deal.
One key challenge standing in the best way of the deal is the FCC’s pending approval of CBS’ broadcast license switch to Skydance Media.
The extension additionally comes within the wake of Paramount’s $16million settlement with Donald Trump.
Trump sued the community over former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview, which he alleged was unfairly edited.
Paramount’s gorgeous choice to settle the lawsuit has introduced intense scrutiny, with critics suggesting the payoff was bending the knee to Trump to reduce political retaliation.
In the meantime, critics’ fears over how the Paramount settlement might reshape media had been heightened on July 3, when the president appeared to substantiate suspicions of a “facet deal” being struck with David, who’s the son of Oracle billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison.
In response to questions in regards to the settlement, Trump reportedly advised the press pool: “We did a deal for about $16 million plus $16 million, or possibly greater than that, in promoting… It is like $32 to possibly $35 million.”
The “promoting” in query referenced reporting from Fox Enterprise’ Charlie Gasparino on David’s alleged non-public settlement to run PSAs supporting Trump-backed causes.
Trump additional fueled considerations by gushing over his “pal” Larry, saying: “I feel he’ll run CBS very well, and I feel he is making an excellent deal to purchase it. I feel he is nice.”
He additionally referred to as David “a incredible younger man.”
Given the president’s reward of the Ellises, outspoken Trump critics Colbert and Stewart could possibly be on the chopping block if the takeover goes by means of.
Stewart not too long ago referred to as out the merger mess throughout an look on Invoice Simmons’ podcast, saying: “What you’re seeing now’s all should pay tribute to the kin.”
The Each day Present host additionally addressed his future with Paramount, saying: “I’m in a spot the place I can do (The Each day Present) on Monday till the corporate is purchased out by people who don’t need something to do with The Each day Present.”
David’s merger has been within the works since 2023, when former Paramount CEO Bob Bakish was buying potential mergers with the likes of Warner Bros. Discovery earlier than catching Skydance’s consideration.
However Shari Redstone, who serves because the controlling shareholder of the community, was apprehensive in regards to the merger from the beginning.
Skydance initially supplied $2billion in money and inventory, which was laughed at, and Bakish was ousted in April 2024 over his disagreement with Redstone. Months later, in July, an settlement with Skydance was reached that will successfully finish the Redstone household’s longstanding management over Paramount.
The tech billionaire’s son has laid out a plan to extend AI-assisted manufacturing on the community, in addition to refine their streaming service Paramount+.