‘I was blown away’: Former Paramount owner believes settlement with Trump was a good deal
The former controlling shareholder in Paramount, Shari Redstone, has revealed she thinks the company got off lightly in a US$16 million ($24.8 million) settlement with US President Donald Trump.
The settlement was widely criticised and perceived as capitulation to the President in order to get the Paramount and Skydance merger approved. Redstone, however, said she was actually expecting a much higher price.
“I was blown away,” she told The New York Times across a series of interviews, released this week. “How did they do it? I don’t know, and I didn’t ask.”
Trump had initially filed a suit demanding US$10 billion ($15.5 billion), which he then upped to $20 billion ($31 billion).
Shari Redstone
Redstone also insisted that “the case was never as black-and-white as people assumed”.
“I believed it was always in Paramount’s best interest to settle,” she said. “We may not like the world we live in, but a board has to do what’s in the best interest of shareholders.”
Trump sued Paramount-owned CBS over a 60 Minutes interview between Bill Whitaker and then Vice President, Presidential hopeful and Trump rival Kamala Harris.
He claimed the show’s editing had “doctored” her “word salad” answer on a question about Israel to make her look better. This, he said, hurt his election chances. Despite going on to win the election, Trump continued to pursue the lawsuit.
Redstone told The New York Times she found most of Trump’s claims about CBS News to be hyperbolic, but said she did have concerns about the network’s handling of criticism of Israel. She also admitted that she thought perhaps Trump could push them in the right direction.
“We needed more balance,” she said. “Part of me thought, maybe Trump could accomplish what I never got done.”
Redstone took control of Paramount – what was once a small family business – in December 2019. When she took over as controlling shareholder, it was valued at US$25 billion ($38.8 billion).
In Australia, Paramount owns Network 10.
In July 2024, Paramount announced it would sell to Skydance Media for just US$8 billion ($12.4 billion).
Some commentators, employees and even senators saw Paramount’s settlement with Trump as a way to get the Skydance-Paramount deal approved.
While the lawsuit was initially dismissed by many as “frivolous”, the media giants needed Federal Communications Commission approval for the deal, which initially stalled, but was granted following the settlement.
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