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Ellison’s Shell Game & Döpfner’s U.K. Blitz

News and notes on the conspicuous silence of Jeff Shell amid the PSKY–Warners deal heat. Plus, how RedBird finally offloaded The Telegraph to Axel Springer in an all-cash coup that nobody saw coming.

jeff Shell
Some of Jeff’s friends and defenders said insinuations about his future were being driven by detractors inside Paramount who were seeking to capitalize on the investigation. But even his supporters acknowledged that Shell is not universally beloved by his peers inside the company. Photo: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Dylan Byers
March 6, 2026

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In recent weeks, as David Ellison and the Paramount Skydance team met with regulators, held earnings calls, and rolled out their rationale for acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, company president Jeff Shell was conspicuously absent. Jeff, the former NBCUniversal C.E.O. who came to Paramount via his advisory role at Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird, was omitted from a deal team that included Paramount chief strategy officer Andy Gordon, legal chief Makan Delrahim, and comms chief Melissa Zukerman, as well as Gerry and his partner Tyler Alexander.