Shari Redstone, chairman of Paramount Global, will receive $180 million in severance and other benefits on top of hundreds of millions from the sale of her shares to a group led by filmmaker David Ellison, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The Ellison family and its partner, RedBird Capital Partners, will pay approximately $1.75 billion to acquire the equity of National Amusements Inc. to acquire the Redstone family business that owns the majority of the voting stock in Paramount, the parent company of CBS and MTV.
Redstone owns a 20% stake in National Amusements through two trusts in her name and stands to receive about $350 million from the sale. The Ellison Group will also pay off liabilities including a $70 million severance package for Redstone and a $110 million unfunded pension liability as part of the National Amusements acquisition, said the people, who asked not to be identified speaking non- discussed public information.
Ellison leads a group of investors poised to acquire a majority stake in Paramount, a major film and TV company, for more than $8 billion.
The group will pay $2.4 billion for national entertainment, including liabilities, according to publicly reported details of the agreement. It also plans to invest $6 billion to purchase Paramount shares and reduce the company’s debt, and will merge the company with Ellison’s company, Skydance Media.
National Amusements includes the Redstone family’s original source of wealth, a chain of movie theaters. It is also the vehicle through which they own a majority of Paramount’s voting stock.
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