Billionaire investor and money manager Mario Gabelli likes what David Ellison and the Skydance Media team said about their rationale for merging the media and production company with Paramount Global . But at this point, he doesn’t know whether the buyout price Skydance is offering Paramount’s Class A voting shareholders is fair — and he indicated his firm is keeping legal options open if it determines the deal isn’t equitable. Gabelli is the founder, chairman and CEO of GAMCO Investors, which represents clients who own about 12.
5% of the Class A voting shares of Paramount Global. In an interview with Variety , Gabelli praised the Skydance and Paramount teams for “a fantastic job” in detailing how the combined company could achieve synergies in content production and global distribution and through potential streaming joint ventures. “I’m very impressed with what they said,” Gabelli said.
Skydance sees at least $2 billion in annualized cost cuts that can be made at the company, much of it from its linear TV business, RedBird Sports & Media chairman Jeff Shell told Paramount investors Monday . Shell, former CEO of NBCUniversal, is slated to be named president of the newly merged entity once the deal closes. As of Monday, however, Gabelli said he wasn’t sure how GAMCO would proceed on its clients’ behalf.
He said he hasn’t spoken with Shari Redstone — whose National Amusements Inc. owns 77% of Paramount Global’s Class A voting shares — about the Sk.
