Money manager Mario Gabelli is asking a judge to make the film and TV company Paramount Global hand over files about its merger with Skydance Media so investors can tell what controlling stockholder Shari Redstone is getting in the deal and whether it’s fair.

For the David Ellison-run Skydance Media, a “quick and clean” regulatory approval to buy Paramount Global – the owner of Australia’s Network 10 and Paramount+ – has got entangled in regulatory approvals.

The formal complaint follows a books and records request seeking more information about how much Shari Redstone would be paid for her Class A shares in the $8 billion merger

Gabelli, whose funds hold approximately 12% of Paramount's voting shares, has claimed that the company has declined to provide records that would reveal if the profits Redstone is making from the sale of her National Amusements Inc. (NAI), are unfairly disadvantaging Paramount's minority shareholders, based on Delaware corporate law, it added.

For the people running Skydance Media, a “quick and clean” regulatory approval to buy Paramount Global has been replaced by “long and slow” — and that’s if they’re lucky, On The Money has learned. The long-awaited merger’s final consummation is likely to remain in regulatory purgatory for the foreseeable future,