Entity Type: Public media-and-entertainment holding company (post-merger structure) Sector: Broadcast, streaming, film Key Brands: Paramount+, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media Listing: NASDAQ: PARA (post-merger)

Overview

Paramount Skydance Corporation is the merged entity created when Skydance Media (controlled by the Ellison family via David Ellison and Lawrence Investments) acquired Paramount Global in 2025. The merged company holds exclusive UFC broadcast rights under a 7-year / $7.7B agreement with TKO Group Holdings — the agreement under which UFC Freedom 250 (June 14, 2026, White House South Lawn) streamed exclusively on Paramount+. The profile documents the company’s UFC-broadcast benefit, the concurrent pending ~$111B Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition for which Paramount has sought administration sign-off, and the company’s documented regulatory posture with the Trump administration.

Basis for Inclusion

Subject Classification: Public Corporation. Documented commercial beneficiary of an event held on federal property, with a separately documented active regulatory ask of significant size before the same administration.

Basis for inclusion:

• DOCUMENTED: Holds exclusive Paramount+ broadcast of UFC Freedom 250 at the White House on June 14, 2026 (Source 8 in event dossier; CBS News).
• DOCUMENTED: $7.7B / 7-year UFC broadcast rights deal with TKO Group Holdings (CBS News, 2025).
• CREDIBLY REPORTED: CEO David Ellison has made repeated trips to Washington to seek administration approval for a separate ~$111B Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition; privately assured administration officials of editorial changes at CNN under new ownership (Status News; Variety 2025).
• CREDIBLY REPORTED: Settled the 60 Minutes / Trump lawsuit prior to the merger close — a settlement widely reported as concessionary to Trump and connected to FCC sign-off on the Skydance transaction.
• DOCUMENTED: Paramount+ broadcast of Josh Hokit’s “Michelle Obama is a man” remark went on-air without on-broadcast editorial response (Variety; Gizmodo).

What is NOT the basis for inclusion:

• Paramount’s pre-merger creative output or general entertainment programming.
• Routine business operations unrelated to federal regulatory engagement.
• Speech by individual directors, employees, or talent that is not separately documented as company conduct.

UFC Freedom 250 — White House Event (June 14, 2026)

See canonical record: UFC Freedom 250 — White House Event.

Paramount-specific facts (DOCUMENTED unless noted):

• Exclusive live broadcast on Paramount+ at premium-tier paywall.
• Joe Rogan called the event for Paramount+; the broadcast carried the Hokit in-cage remark uncut and made no on-air editorial response.
• No public disavowal of the Hokit remark by Paramount Skydance as of June 16, 2026.

Paramount and the Trump Administration: Pattern of Engagement

DOCUMENTED:

• 60 Minutes / Trump suit settlement (pre-merger, 2024–2025).
• FCC approval of the Skydance / Paramount merger.

CREDIBLY REPORTED:

• Ongoing engagement on the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition path, including private assurances regarding CNN editorial direction.
• Editor & Publisher reported that Paramount+ blocked a Foundation for Press Freedom advertisement about the Trump-Ellison censorship dynamic (Source 10 in dossier).

Warner Bros. Discovery Acquisition (Pending)

CREDIBLY REPORTED:

• Paramount Skydance / Ellison family has pursued an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery at a headline value of approximately $111B.
• The transaction requires multiple federal approvals (FCC license transfers, antitrust review at DOJ Antitrust Division and/or FTC).
• Public reporting indicates the administration’s posture is a material variable in whether the deal closes on the Ellison side’s preferred terms.

The dossier flags the concurrency between the UFC Freedom 250 broadcast benefit (a commercial favor to the administration’s biggest public-relations event of the spring) and an active multi-agency regulatory ask. The concurrency is the documented fact; the dossier does not assert a finding of quid pro quo absent court record.

Board of Directors (as of June 2026)

Roster sources:

• Paramount Skydance Corp Form 8-K filings (SEC EDGAR CIK 0002041610).
• Hollywood Reporter, “Sherry Lansing, Safra Catz to Join David Ellison on New Paramount Skydance Board.”
• Variety, “Paramount Skydance Board of Directors Announced,” 2025.
• The Wrap, “Sherry Lansing to Join New Paramount Board as Skydance Unveils 10 Directors.”

Verification needed: Confirm the full slate against the next DEF 14A proxy statement when filed. Andrew Campion’s January 13, 2026 appointment is sourced to SEC 8-K filings.

Sources

1. CBS News, “Paramount acquires UFC rights in 7-year, $7.7 billion deal with TKO Group,” 2025.
2. Status News, “Ellison’s Champagne Celebration,” 2026.
3. Editor & Publisher, “Paramount+ blocks FPF ad about Trump-Ellison censorship threat,” 2026.
4. Variety, “White House UFC Fighter Josh Hokit Shouts ‘Michelle Obama Is a Man’ in Post-Match Interview,” June 2026.
5. Hollywood Reporter, “Sherry Lansing, Safra Catz to Join David Ellison on New Paramount Skydance Board.”
6. SEC EDGAR Paramount Skydance Corp filings, CIK 0002041610.
7. UFC Freedom 250 — White House Event