Disneyland Resort has laid off about 100 people in Anaheim, as Walt Disney Co. becomes the latest media and entertainment company to cut jobs.
The layoffs occurred Tuesday and came from multiple teams, Disney confirmed.
“With our business in a period of steady, sustained operation, we are recalibrating our organization to ensure we continue to deliver exceptional experiences for our guests, while positioning Disneyland Resort for the future,” a Disneyland spokesperson said in a statement. “As part of this, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a limited number of salaried positions.”
A person close to the company who was not authorized to comment attributed the cuts to an increase in hiring after the parks reopened once the COVID-19 pandemic waned.
Disney’s theme parks are a major economic engine for the Burbank media and entertainment giant.
The Disneyland Resort layoffs come as entertainment and tech companies have recently shed thousands of jobs.
On Wednesday, Paramount laid off 1,000 employees in a first round of cuts after the company’s takeover by tech scion David Ellison’s Skydance Media. Amazon, Meta, Charter Corp. and NBC News also have announced cuts.
CBS News’ “Face the Nation” will no longer edit taped interviews after U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem complained about how her remarks were cut in her last appearance on the Washington-based program.
The news division said Friday that the Sunday show moderated by Margaret Brennan will only present interviews live or “live to tape” in which no edits are made. Exceptions will be made when classified national security information is inadvertently stated or language is used that violates Federal Communications Commission broadcast standards.
“In response to audience feedback over the past week, we have implemented a new policy for greater transparency in our interviews,” a CBS News representative said in a statement. “This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online.”
The representative declined to comment on the reason for the policy beyond the statement.
But the timing makes it clear that CBS News is reacting to Noem’s complaints following her Sunday appearance in which she discussed the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongly deported to his native El Salvador. He was returned to the U.S., where he faces deportation efforts.
Noem wrote on X that “CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.”
The comments cut from the “Face the Nation” appearance were potentially defamatory. Noem said that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13 and that he solicited nude photos from minors.
“Even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off, he was so sick in what he was doing and how he was treating small children,” Noem said in the unedited version of the interview she posted on X.
The government has accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, which he has denied. A court has described the evidence of his connection as “insufficient.”
“Face the Nation,” which has been on the air since 1954, became the focal point in a legal battle between CBS News and President Trump last year. Trump sued CBS News for $20 billion, claiming the program deceptively edited a “60 Minutes” interview with his 2024 opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Face the Nation” ran a clip from the interview that differed from what appeared in the “60 Minutes” broadcast, which led Trump to claim that it was changed to aid Harris and damage his election chances.
Editing interviews for clarity and time restrictions of a broadcast is a common practice in TV news. While 1st Amendment experts said CBS News had done nothing wrong, parent company Paramount settled the case for $16 million to help clear the regulatory hurdles for its merger with Skydance Media. The merger was completed Aug. 7.
The policy change regarding live interviews will likely be seen as another capitulation to Trump administration, who has shown a willingness to use legal measures to punish or attempt to silence his critics in the media. It will also pose a challenge to “Face the Nation” producers who already operate in an environment where real-time fact checking can’t always keep up with the misinformation presented by guests on the program.
CBS News is expecting additional changes as Skydance is in serious talks to acquire the Free Press, the right-leaning web-based media company founded by former New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss.
The deal is said to be nearing completion, according to people familiar with the discussions, and would include a prominent role for Weiss at CBS News, even though she has no experience in running a TV news organization.
After finally getting approval from the Federal Communications Commission, Skydance Media is just weeks away from completing its $8-billion merger with Paramount Global, leading to sweeping changes for some of the most iconic media brands.
CBS, MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures are all bracing for upheaval when Larry Ellison and his son, David, take the keys from Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. The long-running ownership saga has played out while the rules of the media industry have been upended by streaming and, more recently, a White House unafraid to use its muscle to silence critics.
Skydance and its backer, RedBird Capital Partners, have promised investors that it will find $2 billion in cost savings, which means further belt-tightening and layoffs.
“This will be the most dramatic change to the organization since its inception,” said one longtime CBS insider who was not authorized to comment publicly.
Here is what Wall Street and the media industry will be watching for once the deal closes on Aug. 7:
Will Skydance spend enough to supercharge streaming?
Last year, Paramount+ added 10 million new subscribers to reach 77.5 million. Its subscriber count is now 79 million, thanks also to NFL programming, CBS shows such as “NCIS” and original hits including “1923,” “Landman,” “Lioness” and “Tulsa King.” Paramount has projected full-year U.S. profitability for Paramount+ this year, making it one of the fastest subscription services to get there.
But its relatively scant resources and thinner slate has made it difficult to truly compete with Netflix and the other biggest players. One potential solution: partnering with a rival streamer to increase its reach.
“Questions around the long-term scalability of Parmamount+ continue to loom large,” analyst firm MoffettNathanson noted in a report Friday. “Will the new management team pursue external partnerships as a viable path forward?”
Ellison and his team have suggested that they will bring a tech-focused sensibility to Paramount. Technological prowess would help Paramount+ improve its user interface and recommendation process, which insiders acknowledge is currently underwhelming. As expected, the architect of Paramount+ original series strategy, Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy, will leave when the deal closes.
Can traditional TV be saved?
Analysts also want to see Skydance will increase investment in film and TV franchises to revive assets that have been constrained by Paramount’s debt.
While Skydance will get a robust library of films and TV shows, it will also be faced with the slow-melting iceberg that is broadcast and cable TV, which continues to lose viewers. Streaming has surpassed broadcast and cable as the leading source of video consumption just as Skydance takes over CBS and Paramount Global’s array of channels that include MTV, BET and Comedy Central.
Doug Creutz, an analyst for TD Cowen, believes the merged company should consider spinning off traditional TV businesses, similar to what Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast are doing with their cable channels. Whether that will happen remains to be seen.
“There is a clear opportunity to improve Paramount’s growth profile by letting those assets go,” Creutz wrote Friday. “On the other hand, we suspect the Ellisons did not purchase Paramount in order to break it up for parts.”
A test of Skydance’s commitment to broadcast may come if the FCC relaxes TV station ownership rules, which would likely lead to consolidation.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl with Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
(CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)
How will ’60 Minutes’ reset?
CBS News’ “60 Minutes” received a vote of confidence with the naming of Tanya Simon, a respected veteran insider to take over as executive producer. She was the choice of the program’s strong-willed correspondents.
Simon’s appointment is expected to provide stability following the departure of longtime showrunner Bill Owens, who was forced out amid the push for a $16-million settlement over President Trump’s lawsuit claiming the program deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to make her look better to voters.
“60 Minutes” remained tough in its White House coverage as negotiations went on. The question is whether that approach will continue with new owners. Larry Ellison has a friendly relationship with the president, and the new owners agreed to appoint an ombudsman to oversee news coverage.
Getting it right matters from a business perspective too, as “60 Minutes” remains the most profitable program on CBS.
With Simon in place, new management is expected to address other areas of the news division that can use improvement. The network’s revamp of the “CBS Evening News” has been a disappointment in the ratings and will likely see some changes.
In the longer term, there has been chatter that Skydance may set its sights on acquiring CNN from Warner Bros. Discovery and combining it with the broadcast news operation, an idea that has been considered numerous times over the last few decades.
“South Park” characters Eric Cartman, left, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski.
(Comedy Central)
Will creative freedom be tested?
CBS canceled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” upsetting his fans, progressive Democratic legislators and other late-night hosts who make their living lampooning President Trump.
The network said it was strictly a business decision, as the younger viewers who made late-night TV monstrously lucrative for decades are no longer showing up. The timing of the move made the company look as if it were capitulating to Trump, who long had the host on his enemies list.
But Colbert will remain on the air through May. The show has already been sold to advertisers for next season. The host has remained unrelenting in his mockery of Trump.
The season premiere of “South Park” only upped the ante. The animated series made references to the “60 Minutes” deal, showed Trump in bed with the devil and aired its own version of a Trump-mandated PSA, showing a naked president with talking genitalia.
There is no question both shows will test the patience of the new owners.
Pulling Colbert off or censoring the “South Park” creators, who just received a $1.5-billion deal to continue their show and move its library to Paramount+, would lead to a far greater backlash than what has been seen so far. Any attempt to curtail their voices will send a negative message to creative types who consider working with the company’s movie and TV operations going forward.
Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One” from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
(Paramount Pictures and Skydance)
Can the movie business be revived?
Over the last few years, Paramount Pictures — home of franchises such as “Transformers” and “Mission: Impossible” — has ranked either fifth or fourth at the domestic box office. So far this year, the lone major movie studio still located in Hollywood proper has accounted for about 7% of ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada, according to box office website the Numbers.
Since the pandemic, the company has enjoyed a number of major hits, including “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.” It has also had some solid singles and doubles, including “Bob Marley: One Love.” But overall, the more-than-century-old studio has struggled from underinvestment in its intellectual property and movie brands.
The latest “Mission: Impossible” starring Tom Cruise — the eighth and purportedly last in the series — grossed $589 million globally but cost $300 million to $400 million to make, not including marketing costs. Paramount’s latest effort, an animated “Smurfs” reboot, sputtered at the box office. Next up: a reboot of “The Naked Gun.”
The unit’s leader, Brian Robbins (also head of Nickelodeon at Paramount Global), is expected to leave the studio, though he has not officially announced his plans. David Ellison is a movie fan and is expected to take a particular interest in the operation, with plans to put Skydance’s chief creative officer, Dana Goldberg, in charge of film at Paramount. Skydance has worked with Paramount on movies before, producing “Maverick” and the “Missions: Impossible” films
HOUSTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 11: Denico Autry #96 of the Houston Texans sacks Justin Herbert #10 of the Los Angeles Chargers during the second half of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game at NRG Stadium on January 11, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images)
(Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)
Will the NFL take its ball elsewhere?
A transfer of ownership means the NFL can reopen its long-term deal with CBS, which has a Sunday package of games, the AFC Championship Game and two Super Bowls. The NFL is the lifeblood of broadcast television, providing a vast majority of the year’s most-watched programs.
Without the NFL, CBS would face tremendous challenges in getting fees from pay TV operators who carry its stations. Revenue from affiliates who pay the network for its programming would also dramatically decline.
Although the NFL is known for taking a pound of flesh at every opportunity, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has signaled he will give careful consideration before making any changes.
“We’ve had a long relationship with CBS for decades and we also have a relationship outside of that with Skydance,” Goodell told CNBC earlier this month. “We have a two-year period to make that decision. I don’t see that happening, but we have the option and it’s something we’re going to look at.”
The NFL could wait until 2029 when it has the option to open up the contract with all of its media partners. The new media deal for the NBA — $76 billion over 11 years — has the NFL believing its pact is underpriced.
Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.
David Ellison stepped within reach of his hard-fought prize, Paramount Global, after winning regulators’ blessing for his Skydance Media’s $8-billion takeover of the storied media company.
President Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr approved the Skydance-Paramount merger Thursday after months of turmoil and a monumental collision between the president’s broad powers and press freedoms.
Carr’s consent came just three weeks after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the president’s lawsuit over edits to a “60 Minutes” broadcast. Trump had claimed CBS producers doctored the October interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris to boost her election chances. CBS denied his allegations, saying the edits were routine.
1st Amendment experts called Trump’s suit “frivolous.” But, after months of internal upheaval, Paramount capitulated. The move was widely seen as a prerequisite for Skydance to win FCC approval and push the Paramount-Skydance merger over the finish line.
Trump has said on social media that, as part of the settlement, he also expects the new owners to provide another $20 million in public service announcements and other free programming.
The FCC approval clears the final regulatory hurdle for the acquisition that will bring another technology titan to Hollywood. Carr authorized the transfer of Paramount’s CBS television station licenses to Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder who ranks among the world’s richest men, and his family.
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,” Carr said in a statement. “That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
The FCC commissioners voted 2-1 in favor of the deal. Two Republicans, Carr and Olivia Trusty, voted yes, while Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the panel, dissented.
“After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted,” Gomez said in a statement. “Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions.”
The Ellisons’ takeover of Paramount is expected to be complete in the coming days.
Santa Monica-based Skydance, which is owned by the Ellison family and private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, faces an uphill slog to restore Paramount to its former glory. Years of programming under-investments, management missteps and ownership turmoil have taken a heavy toll.
Viewers’ shift to streaming has upended Paramount’s TV networks, CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV and BET. Paramount Pictures lags behind Disney, Universal and Warner Bros.
Sumner Redstone’s family will exit the Hollywood stage, after nearly 40 years. The pugnacious mogul from Boston, who died five years ago, presided during an era of entertainment excesses in the 80s, 90s and early aughts — when Paramount released beloved blockbusters and cable television was in its hey-day.
For a stretch this spring, it seemed the Skydance deal could unravel.
The FCC’s review had stalled amid the legal wrangling over Trump’s lawsuit. Carr, in one of his first moves as chairman, separately opened an FCC inquiry into alleged news distortion with the “60 Minutes” Harris interview — putting CBS uncomfortably under the microscope.
Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone (Sumner’s daughter), and some Skydance executives, urged Paramount to settle. But CBS News executives refused to apologize to Trump for the “60 Minutes” edits, saying CBS journalists did nothing wrong. The settlement, which steers money to Trump’s future presidential library, did not include an apology from CBS News or Paramount.
Two high-level CBS News executives departed and three progressive U.S. senators demanded answers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the others lambasted the settlement talks, saying that paying Trump money to end a “bogus” lawsuit simply to get a merger approved could be akin to paying a bribe.
The winds shifted in June. David Ellison, Larry’s 42-year-old son, talked briefly with Trump at a UFC fight in New Jersey. Days later, Trump talked favorably about his friendship with Larry Ellison and the Paramount-Skydance deal.
“Ellison’s great,” Trump told reporters in mid-June. “He’ll do a great job with it.”
David Ellison last week met with Carr in Washington to persuade him that Paramount would be in good hands. They discussed the firm’s commitments and management philosophies. Skydance also gave assurances that its Chinese investors would not have a say in the company’s affairs.
Last week, CBS separately said it was canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” in May. The company said the move was financial, but conservatives and progressives alike questioned the timing due to the pending merger and Colbert’s pointed barbs at Trump.
Skydance outlined its planned changes at Paramount in a letter this week to Carr. Skydance promised to cancel all diversity initiatives, disband its Office of Global Inclusion and strip references to DEI from its internal and external messaging. The company also said news and entertainment programming would not tilt in any one political direction.
“New Paramount’s new management will ensure that the company’s array of news and entertainment programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum, consistent with the varying perspectives of the viewing audience,” Skydance’s general counsel Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon wrote in Tuesday’s letter to Carr.
The company said it would install an ombudsman at CBS News for at least two years.
“They are committing to serious changes at CBS,” Carr told reporters in Washington earlier Thursday. “I think that would be a good thing. They’ve committed to addressing bias issues. They committed to embracing fact-based journalism.”
Ellison began his pursuit of Paramount two years ago.
He formalized his bid by January 2024. After months of negotiations, Paramount’s board and Redstone approved the Skydance takeover July 7, 2024.
Paramount’s leaders considered other prospective owners but concluded that Skydance, with its Ellison backing, would bring a solid financial foundation for a company that traces its roots back more than a century. Redstone also wanted Paramount to remain whole, rather than broken into pieces.
As part of the agreement, Skydance will be folded into the public company. Its backers will inject new capital to bolster Paramount’s finances and install a new cadre of leaders. Ellison will serve as chairman and chief executive. Former NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Shell is slated to be president.
CBS’ current leader George Cheeks, one of Paramount’s three co-chief executives, could join the new regime. But the two other current chiefs, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins, are expected to depart.
The Skydance deal is expected to be executed in two parts. Larry Ellison and RedBird will buyout the Redstone family holding company, National Amusements Inc., for $2.4 billion.
After their debts are paid, the Redstone family will leave with $1.75 billion. The family controls 77% of Paramount’s voting shares, which will be passed to the Ellisons and RedBird.
Under the deal terms, the new Paramount will offer to buy out some shares of existing shareholders and inject $1.5 billion into Paramount’s strained balance sheet.
Paramount will then absorb Skydance, which has a movie, television, animation, video games and a sports unit. The deal values Skydance at $4.75-billion.
“We’re going to reorganize and restructure the business to prioritize cash flow generation,” David Ellison told investors last July. “With a track record in both entertainment and technological expertise [we will] be able to transition the company through this period of time to ensure that Paramount’s brightest days are ahead.”
While “60 Minutes” will soon have a new owner, the CBS newsmagazine’s next executive producer is coming from inside the family.
Tanya Simon, a 25-year veteran of the program, will take on the role vacated by Bill Owens in April. She has served as interim executive producer since his departure.
She is the daughter of the late Bob Simon, one of the best known correspondents during the program’s 57 year history.
Changes at the top of “60 Minutes” have been rare. Simon will be only the fourth executive producer in the program’s history and the first woman.
Simon’s appointment will be a relief to the program’s staff, where morale has been rocked by parent company Paramount Global’s battle with President Trump. The correspondents of the program signed a letter to company co-chairman George Cheeks urging him to give Simon the job.
Simon will have the backing of her colleagues who are thankful they won’t be dealing with an outsider who might not value the program’s editorial rigor and independence. But she will be faced with the challenge of navigating the operation after one of the most difficult periods in its history.
Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit against “60 Minutes” over the editing of an interview with his 2024 opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump claimed the interviews was deceptively edited to aid Harris in the election.
The case was labeled as frivolous by 1st Amendment experts and the settlement widely seen as a capitulation to Trump in order to clear a path for Paramount’s $8-billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
While “60 Minutes” did not issue an apology or acknowledge any wrongdoing, the program is likely to face intense scrutiny going forward. Critics will be looking for signs of the program pulling its punches in reporting on Trump. In order to clear the Paramount Global deal with the FCC, Skydance has agreed to name a news division ombudsman that will report to the company’s president for at least the next two years.
“Tanya Simon understands what makes ’60 Minutes’ tick,” CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said in. a statement “She is an innovative leader, an exceptional producer, and someone who knows how to inspire people,” “
Simon got her start at CBS News in 1996 as a researcher for its other newsmagazine “48 Hours.” She joined “60 Minutes” in 2000, working with correspondent Ed Bradley on a variety of reports including the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. She went on to produce for nearly all of the program’s correspondents including her father.
Her work has earned virtually every major broadcast honor, including multiple Emmy Awards, the Peabody and the DuPont-Columbia Award.
Respected Washington litigator Abbe David Lowell this week joined the team representing the New York advocacy group, which has vowed to sue Paramount should it settle with Trump. The group owns Paramount shares.
Lowell, who has represented Hunter Biden, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, is working on the case with attorney Norm Eisen, a Trump critic who helped House Democrats with strategy during Trump’s first impeachment hearings in 2019.
Eisen is a former ambassador to the Czech Republic who served as White House ethics advisor under President Obama.
Late Thursday, the two attorneys sent a strongly worded letter to Paramount’s chairwoman and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and other board members arguing that a Trump settlement would cause “catastrophic” harm to the embattled media company.
Hunter Biden (left) with his attorney Abbe Lowell (right) at a House committee hearing last year.
(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)
1st Amendment experts have labeled Trump’s lawsuit frivolous. But Paramount leaders are desperate to end the Trump drama and some believe a truce could clear a path for the Federal Communications Commission to approve the company’s $8-billion sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
Paramount needs the FCC to authorize the transfer of the CBS station licenses to the Ellison family.
“Trading away the credibility of CBS’s news division to curry favor with the Trump Administration is an improper and reckless act that will irreparably damage the company’s brand and destroy shareholder value,” Lowell said in a statement late Thursday.
“The board is legally and morally obligated to protect the company, not auction off its integrity for regulatory approval,” Lowell said.
Paramount, in a statement, said that it is treating the FCC review and the Trump lawsuit as separate matters. “We will abide by the legal process to defend our case,” a corporate spokesman said.
Paramount’s lawyers entered mediation with the president’s legal team in late April, but no resolution has been reached. Paramount offered $15 million to Trump to end his suit, according to the Wall Street Journal, but the president rejected the overture and asked for more.
On Thursday, Redstone disclosed that she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and is receiving treatment. Last month, doctors removed her thyroid but cancer cells had spread to her vocal chords.
In their seven-page letter, Lowell and Eisen told Paramount’s leaders that, should they approve a Trump settlement to gain traction at the FCC, they would be violating their fiduciary duty to shareholders and potentially breaking federal anti-bribery statutes.
“We believe [a settlement] could violate laws prohibiting bribery of public officials, thereby causing severe and last damage to Paramount and its shareholders,” Lowell and Eisen wrote.
“To be as clear as possible, you control what happens next,” they said.
The admonition follows a similar warning from three U.S. senators — Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) In a May 19 letter, the senators wrote that paying money to Trump to help win clearance for the Paramount sale could constitute a bribe.
“It is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act,” the three senators wrote in their letter.
In addition, two California Democrats have proposed a state Senate hearing to examine problems with a possible Trump settlement.
The senators invited two former CBS News executives — who both left, in large part, because of the controversy — to testify before a yet-unscheduled joint committee hearing in Sacramento.
The California lawmakers, in their letter, said a Trump settlement could also violate California’s Unfair Competition Law because it could disrupt the playing field for news organizations.
Earlier this week, Paramount asked shareholders to increase the size of its board to seven members at the company’s annual investor meeting next month.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation was created in 2012 to protect and defend public interest journalism.
This spring, Lowell left his former major law firm, Winston & Strawn, where he had been a partner for years. He formed his own boutique firm, Lowell & Assoc., with a focus on “public interest representation in matters that defend the integrity of the legal system and protect individuals and institutions from government overreach,” according to its website.
Lowell’s firm also includes lawyer Brenna Frey, who made a high-profile exit from another prominent law firm, Skadden Arps, after it cut a deal with Trump to avoid becoming a target. That law firm agreed to provide $100 million in free legal services.
Last month, Frey appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” to air her decision to resign from Skadden Arps.
“I was able to tell my story on CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ because of the independence of a courageous news division, which is what’s at risk now,” Frey said in a statement.
Paramount Global chairwoman and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone is battling cancer as she tries to steer the media company through a turbulent sales process.
“Shari Redstone was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this spring,” her spokeswoman Molly Morse said late Thursday. “While it has been a challenging period, she is maintaining all professional and philanthropic activities throughout her treatment, which is ongoing.
“She and her family are grateful that her prognosis is excellent,” Morse said.
The news comes nearly 11 months after Redstone agreed to sell Paramount to David Ellison’s Skydance Media in a deal that would end the family’s tenure as major Hollywood moguls after four decades.
However, the government’s review of the sale to Skydance hit a snag amid President Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit against Paramount and its subsidiary CBS over edits to an October “60 Minutes” broadcast.
Redstone, 71, told the New York Times that she underwent surgery last month after receiving the diagnosis about two months ago. Surgeons removed her thyroid gland but did not fully eradicate the cancer, which had spread to her vocal cords, the paper said.
She continues to be treated with radiation, the paper reported.
The Redstone family controls 77% of the voting shares of Paramount. Since Bob Bakish was ousted as chief executive last year, the company has been managed by a trio of executives who share the title of co-chief executive.
Her father, the late Sumner Redstone, built the company into a juggernaut but it has seen its standing slip in recent years. There have been management missteps and pressures brought on by consumers’ shift to streaming. The trend has crimped revenue to companies that own cable channels, including Paramount.
The COVID-19 pandemic followed by the 2023 writers and actors strikes also took a toll on Paramount and the Redstone family’s private firm, National Amusements Inc., which owns movie theaters.
Paramount cut its dividend to shareholders two years ago, leaving the family in a financial bind.
Financial pressures contributed to Redstone’s decision to entertain offers for Paramount and National Amusements, which holds the Paramount shares.
Nearly two years ago, Ellison and Redstone began talks that culminated last July with an agreement on a multi-phased $8-billion deal that would pass the torch to Ellison.
Redstone wants to close the deal. National Amusements would receive $2.4 billion, which would pay its debts and leave the family with more than $1.7 billion.
She has urged the company to settle the lawsuit Trump filed in October, weeks after “60 Minutes” interviewed then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump accused CBS of deceptively editing the interview to make Harris look smarter and improve her election chances, a charge that CBS has denied.
The dispute over the edits has sparked unrest within the company, prompted high-level departures and triggered a Federal Communications Commission examination of alleged news distortion.
The FCC’s review of the Skydance deal has become bogged down. If the agency does not approve the transfer of CBS television station licenses to the Ellison family, the deal could collapse.
The two companies must complete the merger by early October. If not, Paramount will owe a $400-million breakup fee to Skydance.
Redstone, through National Amusements, also owes nearly $400 million to a Chicago banker who loaned the family money in 2023 and tech titan Larry Ellison, who is helping bankroll the buyout of Paramount and National Amusements.
Last week, Paramount nominated three new directors to serve on the company’s board following its July 2 investor meeting.
In a proxy filing, Paramount asked shareholders to expand the board to seven directors, including Redstone and three recruits: attorney Mary Boies (a member of the firm led by her husband David Boies); Silicon Valley venture capital executive Charles E. Ryan; and former Massachusetts trial court judge Roanne Sragow Licht.
They would join longtime board members Linda M. Griego, Susan Schuman and Barbara M. Byrne.
