(Bloomberg) -- Four directors of Paramount Global are expected to leave the board soon as the film and TV company controlled by Shari Redstone is in discussions to merge with Skydance Media. 

Media veteran Dawn Ostroff, former Sony executive Nicole Seligman, investment banker Frederick Terrell, and Rob Klieger, a longtime attorney for Redstone, will step down in the coming weeks, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Paramount is in exclusive negotiations with David Ellison’s Skydance, a production partner on films such as Mission: Impossible and Top Gun. Ellison and his backers have agreed to pay a little more than $2 billion for Redstone’s National Amusements, the family company that controls Paramount.

But that deal won’t close unless Ellison can merge his production company, Skydance Media, with Paramount, and a number of hurdles stand in his way, including how to satisfy the company’s other investors.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the planned resignations earlier Wednesday.

Seligman and Ostroff are among eight directors on a special committee of independent board members charged with ensuring the company gets the best deal, the Journal said, whether that’s with Skydance or someone else. At least one of the departing directors expressed concerns about the Skydance deal.

Representatives of Paramount and Redstone declined to comment. The planned departures could be disclosed in a Paramount securities filing as soon as this week, the Journal said said.

Shares of Paramount, the owner of TV networks including CBS and MTV, fell as much as 7.8% to $10.12 in New York.

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