The world of mergers and acquisitions doesn’t always sound like an exciting thing. Sure, Oliver Stone can make it sound intense via Gordon Gecko in “Wall Street,” but it’s normally not that thrilling. It can however, be terrifying in a way. When there are only so many big players in Hollywood, takeovers and mergers can mean fewer voices and avenues for creatives.
That’s one of the big reasons why we’ve been following the saga of Paramount and its merger with Skydance.
You may know multinational companies have at least two major areas they have to clear to get a merger approved- the United States and the European Union. In the United States, the business deal has to pass through a number of government channels. These channels can include the FCC, SEC, FTC, and Department of Justice. The EU clearance was granted earlier this week, and now the SEC has cleared it, too.
The FCC is currently being led by Brendan Carr, an appointee of President Donald Trump. One of the questions hanging over this approval is if Trump will be vindictive towards Paramount and use Carr as his proxy. Trump is currently engaged in a lawsuit with the CBS news program, “60 Minutes” regarding an interview with Kamala Harris. The suit alleges the interview was edited to make Harris appear “cohesive and decisive,” and that this was a deceptive thing to do. Trump is suing for $20 billion in damages. (“60 Minutes” has released the unaltered raw tapes of the interview in question.)
Maybe this ongoing lawsuit won’t play into the FCC’s decision and the process will be completely objective. The notion that it may not be though, and that petty vindictiveness could affect this just goes to show the dangerous conflicts of interest that are happening. This is also on top of the previous concerns we mentioned about mergers affecting the number of avenues available for people in Hollywood to get things produced and made. We’ll be keeping our eyes out to see how things progress for Paramount and Skydance.
