“We’re in the business of long-term value creation,” David Ellison proclaimed Wednesday as the stock of his newly minted Paramount, A Skydance Corporation leaped double digits in the first week of his reign. As the majority shareholder in the new Paramount, with strong support from RedBird, Ellison went on to take the win, but also cautioned his plan was not to center on “any one day, we’re looking long term …create value for our shareholders.”
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. A guy more eager to take the legacy studio out for a spin than 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’ suggestion that there was a big-bucks 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 said today during a Los Angeles press conference, referring to CBS’ news division as “the home of Walter Cronkite. Repeating phrases he used at a New York huddle with media last week and as a small pink-themed anti-Trump protest was going on Wednesday outside the Paramount gates, 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 that institution,” he said in what clearly was messaged as a balm to those worried that a bending of the knee to Trump would 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 offing 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 company prez Jeff Shell, streaming leader Cindy Holland (who wasn’t at the NYC event), TV boss George Cheeks, film duo Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein (who also weren’t in the NYC presser last week) board member Gerry Cardinale and COO 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. Talking up the possibilities of AI, Ellison weaved away from any interest in buying TikTok, other studios and outlets as a method to turbo charge Paramount’s evolution. “We are going to get to the other side of the lake,” he noted of the troubled state of the industry, 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 with rumors of a deeper relationship with longtime pal Tom Cruise, there certainly was a nice homage to the star and the upcoming Top Gun 3.
Cause that’s what studio bosses do.
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