Paramount to Pay $122.5 Million to Settle Viacom-CBS Merger Lawsuit
thewrap.comfiling Friday. The settlement is still subject to approval by Delaware’s Court of Chancery.CalPERS, California’s state pension fund, was the lead plaintiff in the litigation, which also named Shari Redstone and the Redstone family’s National Amusements as defendants.
The core allegation was that Shari Redstone pursued the merger to consolidate power and become a corporate magnate on par with her late father Summer Redstone.
Paramount has maintained that the merger was necessary to bolster the company’s position in streaming and allow it to spend more on content to compete with larger rivals.Paramount CEO Bob Bakish was removed from the suit in the same December 2020 ruling that allowed the litigation to proceed.
The lawsuit claimed that Viacom’s board accepted a lower price for the merger to secure Redstone’s governance priorities, including that the company would be led by Bakish and his executive team.
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