April 25 (Reuters) - Paramount Global:

* PARAMOUNT AND SKYDANCE INCH CLOSER TO A MERGER AS KEY HURDLE LOOMS - CNBC

* SKYDANCE MEDIA AND ITS PRIVATE EQUITY BACKERS ARE TARGETING MAY TO FINALIZE TERMS ON A DEAL WITH PARAMOUNT GLOBAL- CNBC

* SKYDANCE’S PLAN WOULD NAME DAVID ELLISON CEO OF PARAMOUNT GLOBAL AND FORMER NBCUNIVERSAL CEO JEFF SHELL AS PRESIDENT - CNBC

* VALUE FOR SKYDANCE WHICH WILL BE VALUED AROUND $5 BILLION AND MERGED WITH PARAMOUNT GLOBAL- CNBC

* ELLISON AND THE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS PLAN TO RAISE ROUGHLY $4.5 BILLION TO $5 BILLION IN NEW EQUITY- CNBC

* CURRENT PARAMOUNT CEO BOB BAKISH WOULD DEPART THE COMPANY - CNBC Source text: https://tinyurl.com/4wnwswam Further company coverage: