Paramount Pictures is currently owned by Paramount Global , which in turn is controlled by Skydance Media through its parent ownership structure following an approximately $8 billion acquisition completed in 2025.

Who legally owns Paramount Pictures?

  • Paramount Pictures is a film studio that operates as a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Paramount Global.
  • After a protracted negotiation and regulatory review, Skydance Media became the new controlling owner of Paramount Global in an $8 billion transaction, which includes Paramount Pictures, CBS, and Nickelodeon.

What changed with the Skydance deal?

  • Before the deal, control of Paramount Global rested with the Redstone family via National Amusements, which held a dominant voting stake in the company.
  • In the new structure, an investor group led by Skydance and the Ellison family took over National Amusements and, with it, effective control of Paramount Global and its key assets such as Paramount Pictures.

So who “really” controls it now?

  • Skydance, founded by producer David Ellison (son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison), is now the central power behind Paramount Global, giving the Ellison family decisive influence over Paramount Pictures’ strategic direction.
  • While Paramount Global remains a publicly traded company with major institutional shareholders (like Vanguard and BlackRock), control has shifted from the Redstone family to the Skydance/Ellison group through their stake in National Amusements and the merger structure.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.