End of Redstone era as Paramount, Skydance Media agree to merge.

(Reuters) -Skydance Media and Paramount Global have agreed to a merger, the companies announced late on Sunday, marking the end of an era for the Redstone media empire which was launched as a chain of movie theaters by Shari Redstone’s family in 1936.

Originally named the Northeast Theater Corporation, it later morphed into National Amusements, which eventually became one of the largest media companies in the United States, with Paramount Pictures, CBS, and Viacom under its umbrella.

Paramount and Skydance agreed to a two-step process in which Skydance, and its deal partners will acquire National Amusements, which holds the Redstone family’s controlling stake in Paramount, for $2.4 billion in cash.

After the National Amusements acquisition, Skydance will merge with Paramount, offering shareholders $4.5 billion in cash or stock, and add $1.5 billion to Paramount’s balance sheet.

Here are the key events leading up to the deal:

Year Events

December CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS_old) and Viacom merge to form ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: PARA),

2019 combining mogul Sumner Redstone’s media units.

13 years after a split. ViacomCBS acquires a

49% stake in film studio Miramax from BeIN

Media Group for $375 million

September ViacomCBS rebrands a CBS streaming service to

2020 Paramount+ and launches it in international.

markets. Sells CNET Media Group to Red

Ventures for $500 million

November ViacomCBS agrees to sell CBS Studio Center to

2021 private firms for $1.85 billion

February ViacomCBS changes its name to Paramount.