Meet The Other Billionaire Behind Skydance’s Paramount Deal

Forbes Daily Briefing

Forbes

Careers, Business, News, Entrepreneurship

4.6 • 12 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

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Summary

Gerry Cardinale’s firm RedBird Capital Partners is investing $1.8 billion toward Skydance’s $8 billion deal. Here’s how the tycoon became a billionaire—and how he may wield his influence at the new-look Paramount.

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0:00.0	Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Thursday, August 7th.
0:05.2	Today on Forbes, meet the other billionaire behind Skydance's Paramount deal.
0:12.0	The year-long saga of Skydance Media's $8 billion paramount takeover is fit for its own Paramount
0:18.7	plus miniseries.
0:20.4	There's political intrigue with critics slamming
0:22.7	departing boss Shari Redstone's apparent capitulation to Donald Trump to get the deal approved,
0:28.4	including Paramount's agreement to pay $16 million to Trump's future presidential library
0:33.3	to resolve a lawsuit over a 60-minute segment on Kamla Harris,
0:43.1	followed by CBS News's announcement that it was canceling popular Trump critic Stephen Colbert's late-night show in 26, supposedly for financial reasons.
0:48.0	Trump celebrated both announcements vociferously.
0:52.0	Then there is the potential family intrigue worthy of a succession spinoff.
0:56.9	David Ellison, the Skydance founder and former Biden backer behind such films as Top Gun Maverick
1:02.9	and True Grit, is teaming up with his staunch Republican father, Larry Ellison, who is the
1:08.5	second richest person in the world and founder of
1:11.1	software giant Oracle.
1:13.4	Flying under the radar, beneath all the high-stakes drama, is Jerry Cardinal, a private equity
1:19.9	investor who is poised to be an influential figure in the New Look Paramount.
1:24.9	His firm, Redbird Capital Partners, is a shareholder in Skydance, having first
1:29.9	invested in 2020. Now the firm is putting in $1.8 billion towards the $8 billion purchase price.
1:37.9	Cardinal will join Paramount as a director and will appoint a yet-to-be-named second director.
1:43.6	Jeff Schell, former CEO of NBC Universal, who chairs Redbird's sports and media business,
1:49.5	will join Paramount as president.
	...

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