Paramount Global is offering $1 million retention bonuses to two top executives, contingent on them remaining with the company through the close of the Skydance Media merger.
On Thursday, the media conglomerate — parent of CBS, Paramount Pictures, and cable networks including MTV and Comedy Central — said it was granting $1 million potential cash bonuses to Doretha Lea, EVP of global public policy and government relations, and Nancy Phillips, EVP and chief people officer. The $1 million bonus represents 100% of each exec’s annual base salary as of Nov. 15, the company disclosed in an SEC filing.
The bonus will be paid to Lea and Phillips if they “remain continuously employed and in good standing with the Company through the closing date of the Transaction,” the filing said, at which point the $1 million will be paid in a single lump sum.
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“The purpose of the awards under the Transaction Award Program… is to ensure the successful operation of the Company during the period prior to the completion of the Transactions and to promote the retention of certain key employees through the closing date” of Skydance deal, Paramount said.
Paramount Global last month granted its three co-CEOs — George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins — an additional provision in their employment agreements that will let them quit and receive severance benefits if they are demoted from their co-CEO roles. The trio of execs also were each granted $3 million in stock under Paramount’s long-term incentive program.
On July 7, after months of on-and-off negotiations, Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc., the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global, clinched a deal to sell NAI to Skydance-RedBird, which would then merge Paramount with Skydance. Redstone is opting to not join the board of the newly merged Paramount-Skydance.
In October, the Skydance group (comprising Skydance Media, RedBird Capital Partners and the Ellison family) submitted an updated filing with the FCC to reflect that Skydance CEO David Ellison will hold 100% percent of the Ellison family’s voting interests in the newly combined Skydance-Paramount — not his father, Larry Ellison, as previous documents indicated.
SEE ALSO: Shari Redstone to Exit Paramount Board Following Skydance Deal Close
