Paramount Taps Former Trump White House Attorney Rene Augustine to Lead Global Public Policy

Paramount Skydance has tapped former Trump White House attorney Rene Augustine to serve as its new senior vice president of global public policy starting Feb. 17.

In her new role, Augustine, who will be based in Washington and regularly interact with the media giant’s teams around the globe, will be responsible for developing policies and building key diplomatic relationships that advance the company’s strategic objectives.

She will report directly to Paramount’s Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim.

“Rene is a highly respected attorney who has excelled in all three branches of government and the private sector. She has worked in a bipartisan manner with the highest security clearances in the government,” Delrahim told staff in a memo on Friday. “I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with Rene at the Department of Justice, at the Senate and at the White House and know she is uniquely qualified and experienced to represent Paramount across a variety of policy, regulatory and diplomatic matters. She will partner closely with me, Ted Lehman and our Legal, Public Policy and Government Relations teams globally.”

Augustine spent nearly five years in advisory roles for the Kennedy Center as presidential appointee to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts and subsequently co-chair of the National Committee for the Performing Arts.

She also served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division from 2019 to 2021, where she was in charge of international antitrust and competition, policy and advocacy. In that role, she developed international antitrust enforcement policy and represented the United States in engagements with foreign competition enforcers in international forums. She also advanced the division’s congressional and intergovernmental priorities and coordinated federal interagency matters.

Before that, she was senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division, with front-office responsibility for the media and entertainment and competition, policy and advocacy Sections, and held senior White House roles across two administrations and at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Additionally, she practiced law at Covington & Burling and served as a federal judicial law clerk, taught as an adjunct professor of law and worked as a staff attorney providing legal services to underserved communities.

The move comes as Paramount has launched an $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid to try to thwart Netflix’s $83 billion deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to acquire its streaming and studio assets.

As of Monday, 42.3 million shares have been tendered to Paramount, a 75% decline from its prior disclosure of 168.5 million shares tendered on Jan. 21. Shareholders can withdraw their shares at any time before the Feb. 20 deadline.

Shareholders are expected to vote on the Netflix deal by April.

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