David Ellison is Hollywood's new kingmaker. At least for now.

Driving the news: Ellison's Skydance Media last night agreed to buy control of Paramount Global — including its century-old film studio — after a lengthy process that included a series of twists and cliffhangers.

• Skydance, which is best known for its work on the "Top Gun" and "Mission: Impossible" franchises, would acquire Shari Redstone's National Amusements for $2.4 billion.
• It then would merge with Paramount by paying $4.5 billion to company shareholders, plus add $1.5 billion to the company's balance sheet.
• Financing will be led by the Ellison family — David's father is Oracle founder, Larry — and RedBird Capital Partners. Existing Skydance investor KKR isn't mentioned in the investor presentation, but remains involved.

In the moment: This is a changing of the media guard, after decades of Redstone family influence.

• It's also the industry's preferred outcome for Paramount, with Ellison viewed as a sincere practitioner rather than someone looking to make a quick buck via financial engineering.
• This doesn't mean there won't be divestitures (e.g., BET) and restructuring/layoffs — given Paramount's giant debt load — but they aren't expected to be impetuous. Call it the best outcome for a bad situation, with everyone crossing their fingers than Ellison's money and intent can overcome his relative inexperience.
• Skydance also expects to invest deeply in tech, believing that a key to achieving streaming profitability is found within the recommendation algorithms.

In the next moment: The deal still might not happen, and not just because there's a 45-day "go shop" whereby a superior bidder may emerge.

• The Biden administration has been fairly hostile to media mergers, and its antitrust cops could try to block the deal. So could the FCC, given that Paramount owns CBS.
• Trump also poses challenges were he to become president. On the one hand, he's known to have some affection for Shari Redstone — whose Viacom/CBS merger went through under his watch — despite her Democratic Party donations. Plus, Larry Ellison is a GOP mega-donor. On the other, he's also a big media critic whose Justice Department sued to stop AT&T from buying Time Warner.

The bottom line: Ellison may become the dog who catches the car, particularly given how much more Paramount may deteriorate between now and when the deal closes. Today, however, he's the star of the show.

HBC, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, has partnered with Amazon and Salesforce to buy Neiman Marcus Group for $2.65 billion.

Why it's the BFD: Amazon likely would get direct data on luxury clothing consumers, a demographic that's repeatedly eluded its reach.

• The tech giant's involvement also could spark the interest of U.S. antitrust regulators, who otherwise might not bother with a merger in the scuffling department store sector.

Selling shareholders include PIMCO, Sixth Street Capital, Coupang/Farfetch, and Davidson Kempner.

• Rhône Capital will remain the lead investor of Saks Global, while Saks.com backer Insight Partners will be a shareholder in the combined company.

Elsewhere in the mall: Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital again raised their takeover offer for Macy's, per the WSJ.

The bottom line: "Amazon is the largest clothing retailer in the U.S. and has long wanted to move upmarket, but it closed its Amazon Style stores last year and its online "luxury stores" outlet features no big-name brands while leaning heavily on second-hand goods." — Felix Salmon, Axios

• Hebbia, a New York-based document search AI startup, raised $130m in Series B funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Google Ventures, and Peter Thiel. axios.link/3XU5GQT

🚑 Myricx Bio, a London developer of antibody-drug conjugates, raised $114m in Series A funding. Abingworth and Novo Holdings co-led, and were joined by insiders Brandon Capital and Sofinnova Partners. axios.link/3Yd5Bbd

• Flux Marine, a Rhode Island maker of electric outboard motors, is raising $50m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro.

⚡ Aether Fuels, Chicago sustainable fuels developer, raised a $34m Series A led by AP Ventures. axios.link/4cJ7vUT

• RedStone, a modular blockchain oracle provider, raised $15m in Series A funding co-led by Arrington Capital and Kraken Ventures. axios.link/4bt95ZR

• Astria, a development stack for building and deploying decentralized rollups, raised $12.5m. Placeholder VC and DBA co-led, and were joined by RockawayX, Maven11, 1kx, Figment Capital, and Batu. axios.link/3RTZdSc

• Quantum Rise, a Chicago provider of AI automation consulting, raised $15m in seed funding from Erie Street Growth Partners. axios.link/45XlLXU

🌎 Alcemy, a German cement decarbonization startup, raised $10m. Norrsken VC led, and was joined by Galvanize Climate Solutions, AENU, and Bitstone. alcemy.tech

• Cartken, a German robotics startup, raised $10m. 468 Capital led, and was joined by Incubate Fund, LDV Partners, Vela Partners, Magna International, Mitsubishi Electric, Shell Ventures, and Volex. axios.link/3VRVHJ7

• SendBlocks, a blockchain data management startup, raised $8.2m in seed funding. Castle Island Ventures led, and was joined by Pitango, Illuminate Financial, Laser Digital, and Starkware. axios.link/4cNo022

🚑 Granza Bio, an SF therapeutics delivery platform, raised $7.1m co-led by Felicis and Refactor. granzabio.com

🚑 Watch Your Health, an Indian personalized health recommendation startup focused on diet and exercise, raised $5m in Series A funding co-led by Cornerstone Ventures and Conquest Global. axios.link/3W6LkCn

• Niva, a know-your-business (KYB) platform for cross-border commerce, raised $3.3m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Gradient Ventures led, and was joined by Picus Capital, Canary, and Gilgamesh Ventures.

• Vida, an Austin, Texas-based provider of AI voice agents for SMBs, raised $3m in seed funding led by Stillmark. axios.link/3zJ8Uwc

• Heymax.ai, a Singaporean loyalty platform, raised $2.6m in seed funding led by January Capital. axios.link/3LaDnWG

🚑 GoJoe, a British provider of a gamified employee health and fitness app, raised £2.4m. Venrex Partners and Redrice Ventures co-led, and were joined by Amrock Ventures and Hellen's Rock Ventures. axios.link/4eLRoYm

• Trever, an Austrian digital asset management platform, raised €2.4m in seed funding co-led by TX Ventures and Market One Capital. axios.link/3W8UwXd

🌎 Orus Energy, a French energy grid decarbonization startup, raised €2.2m in pre-seed funding from b2venture, Asterion Ventures, and Ring Capital. axios.link/45Sv77l

🚑 Carlyle is in exclusive talks to buy Vantive, the kidney care unit of Baxter International (NYSE: BAX), for more than $4b (including debt), per Reuters. axios.link/3VTNrZ5

🚑 Charme Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Animalia, an Italian veterinary services provider. axios.link/4cREC8Z

• KKR agreed to buy Varsity Brands, a Memphis-based maker of yearbooks and class rings, from Bain Capital for around $4.75b, per Reuters. axios.link/3RT589N

• KKR and Francisco Partners each are weighing a takeover bid for Instructure (NYSE: INST), a Salt Lake City ed-tech company controlled by Thoma Bravo, per Bloomberg.axios.link/3xNpyu8

🚑 PSG Equity invested in Corilus, a Belgian provider of connected care software that was acquired in 2010 by Gilde Buy Out Partners. corilus.be

🔥 Sentinel Capital Partners closed its carveout of Carrier Global's (NYSE: CARR) industrial fire unit for over $1.4b. carrier.com

🚑 Alcon (Swiss: ALC) agreed to buy Belkin Vision, an Israeli maker of a laser device for treating glaucoma, for $81m upfront and up to $385m in earnouts. Belkin had raised around $28m from firms like China Resources Capital, Santen Ventures, Rimonci Capital, an Zig Capital. axios.link/3VWh2Rv

⚡ Encap agreed to sell Grayson Mill Energy's Williston Basin business to Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) for $5b in cash and stock. axios.link/3XSRBD2

• GEP, a New Jersey provider of procurement software, acquired OpusCapita, a Finnish e-invoicing and procurement software provider backed by PSG, Providence Equity Partners and Verdane. axios.link/3RWiD8V

• KKR may relaunch the sale process for Goodpack, a Singaporean bulk container maker, per the WSJ. axios.link/3WcmL77

• L Catterton hired UBS to help sell its stake in Bateel, a Saudi restaurant chain and gourmet food maker, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4eWQSqL

🚑 OMERS agreed to sell LifeLabs, a Canadian provider of community lab tests, to Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) for C$1.35b. axios.link/3LdPn9N

• WakeCap, a Saudi IoT platform for construction, acquired Crews by Core, a Palo Alto-based field scheduling platform for the construction industry. CbC had raised around $12m from firms like NFX, Capital Factory, Streamlined Ventures, and Hometeam Ventures. axios.link/3XOAXVf

• Adecco Group, a listed Swiss staffing firm, is weighing a sale of tech consulting unit Akkodis, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4cu7Yut

• Britvic (LSE: BVIC), a British maker of cocktail mixers and other uncarbonated soft drinks, accepted a sweetened £3.3 billion takeover offer from Danish brewer Carlsberg. axios.link/4bxUexl

• Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR) acquired CompSci Resources, an Alexandria, Va., provider of SEC filing software. axios.link/3L7TCDJ

• BYD, the Chinese EV maker, agreed to buy a 20% stake in its official Thai distributor, Rever Automotive, as part of a joint venture. axios.link/3LedpS5

• Crest Nicholson (LSE: CRST) rejected a second takeover bid from rival U.K. homebuilder Avant Homes, which is owned by Berkeley DeVeer and Elliott Management. axios.link/3XOCdYt

🚑 Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) agreed to buy Morphic (Nasdaq: MORF), a drugmaker focused on inflammatory bowel disease, for $3.2b in cash, or $57 per share (79% premium over Friday's closing price). axios.link/3xKhkmF

⚡ Glencore (LSE: GLEN) received Canadian regulatory approval for its purchase of a majority stake in the thermal coal unit of Teck Resources (TSE: TECK). axios.link/4cwAMT5

• Holcim (Swiss: HOLN) acquired Mark Desmedt, a Belgian recycler of construction demolition materials. axios.link/4cCzx4U

• Liberty Global (Nasdaq: LBTYA) may sell a stake in Swiss telco Sunrise, ahead of a spinout that's planned for later this year, per Reuters. axios.link/4byNn70

🏀 Eric Mullins (Lime Rock) and Milton Carroll (ex-CenterPoint Energy) purchased a Big3 expansion team in Houston for a reported $10m. axios.link/3xK0dBt

🚑 Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) received U.K. regulatory approval for its $3.1b purchase of Olink (Nasdaq: OLK), a Swedish provider of proteomics solutions. axios.link/3zx2NLv

• J2 Ventures, a Boston VC firm focused on dual-use national security startups, raised $150m for its second fund. axios.link/3XSq3h4

• Norwest Capital raised $1b for its 11th private equity fund and $400m for its fifth mezz fund. nep.com

• Julie Reimer Albright joined Sojourner Consumer Partners as a principal. She previously spent over a decade with Colgate-Palmolive. axios.link/4cR2E3V

🚑 Adam Karol joined Clayton Dubilier & Rice as a partner focused on health-care deals. He previously was a managing director with Silver Lake. axios.link/3zIwmd1

• Kristine Koren joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner in the law firm's private funds practice. She previously was with Mayer Brown. axios.link/4bC0Evr

• James Rothenberger stepped down as a managing director of Meridian Capital to launch Sugar Tree Capital, a boutique investment bank focused on the food/agribusiness and specialty services industries. axios.link/3Weq65y

• Go deeper: AI is running the venture capital market