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Hollywood icon Paramount agrees $28bn merger deal

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One of Hollywood’s oldest companies, Paramount Global, has agreed to merge with independent film studio Skydance Media.

Under the deal, Paramount’s non-executive chair Shari Redstone will sell her family’s controlling stake in the company in a complex transaction that will result in a new firm worth around $28bn (£21.9bn).

It marks the end of an era for the Redstone family, whose late patriarch, Sumner Redstone, transformed a chain of drive-in cinemas into a vast media empire.

As well as Paramount, the group includes the television networks CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.

“Our hope is that the Skydance transaction will enable Paramount’s continued success in this rapidly changing environment,” Ms Redstone said in a statement.

According to the company its TV channels have a global reach of over 4.3 billion subscribers across more than 180 countries.

The merger would combine Paramount, home of classic films such as Chinatown and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with its financial partner on several recent big releases, including Top Gun: Maverick and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Under the agreement, Skydance will invest around $8bn in Paramount, including paying $2.4bn for National Amusements, which controls the group.

National Amusements owns just 10% of Paramount Group’s shares but accounts for almost 80% of its voting rights.

Paramount said it expected to close the deal by the summer of next year.

Paramount Global traces its origins back more than a century to the founding of Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1914.

The studio has made many hit films, including the Godfather, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible series.

But the entertainment giant has struggled over the past decade. Paramount Global’s shares have fallen by more than 75% in the last five years.

Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded US technology giant Oracle.

The announcement came after eight months of negotiations that saw Redstone holding talks with a number of potential partners including Sony and private equity firm Apollo.

In April, Paramount’s chief executive Bob Bakish left the company after clashing with Ms Redstone over the planned Skydance deal.

The deal comes as the global entertainment industry is being transformed by the video-streaming revolution.

(BBC News)

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‘Diddy’ denied bail after being cleared of most serious charges

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A judge has denied bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs after a jury convicted the hip-hop mogul of transportation to engage in prostitution, but acquitted him of the most serious charges: racketeering and sex-trafficking.

Lawyers for the recording artist had argued he posed no flight risk, pointing out his jet is being chartered in Hawaii.

But Judge Arun Subramanian cited Combs’ history of violence as he ruled the rapper must remain behind bars until sentencing later this year when he faces up to 20 years in prison.

In the nearly two-month federal trial in New York City, prosecutors accused Combs of using his celebrity status and business empire to run a criminal enterprise to sex traffic women.

A panel of 12 jurors deliberated for 13 hours before acquitting Combs of three of the most serious five charges.

He will continue to be held at the same federal jail in Brooklyn where he has been detained since last September.

The sentencing was tentatively scheduled for 3 October.

(BBC News)

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SRK confirmed as special guest at “City of Dreams” launch

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It has been officially announced that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will indeed be joining the grand opening of the “City of Dreams Sri Lanka” on Aug. 02 as a special guest.

The “City of Dreams Sri Lanka” has confirmed this in a statement on Facebook.

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Court order issued against ‘Eh Yaye’ song

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The Commercial High Court has issued an interim injunction order, preventing popular artistes Romaine Willis and Mass Ramli Miskin (DJ Mass) from performing, reproducing and distributing the song ‘Eh Yaye’.

Colombo Commercial High Court Judge Priyantha Fernando issued the order after the Plaint filed under the Intellectual Property Act by popular singer Corrine Almeida.

The case also alleges that the musical composition and the lyrics of the song ‘Eh Yaye’ were substantially similar to the song ‘Api Natamu’.

Naming Willis and DJ Mass as defendants,  the plaintiff Corrine Almeida had also stated that she is the owner of the copyright and economic rights to the musical composition and lyrics of her song titled “Api Natamu”.

The plaintiff instituted action in terms of the Intellectual Property Act, No. 36 of 2003 alleging that the musical composition and the lyrics of ‘Eh Yaye’ were substantially similar to the ‘Api Natamu’ song.

(Source : Dailymirror.lk)

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