April 10 (Reuters) - Three members on the board of

Paramount Global ( PARAA ) are expected to exit the entertainment

giant amid merger talks with Skydance Media, the Wall Street

Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the

situation.

Earlier this month, a source told Reuters that Paramount's

board had agreed to enter exclusive merger talks with Skydance

Media, led by CEO David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry

Ellison.

A merger could result in Ellison combining Paramount with

his independent media house that is behind films such as "Top

Gun: Maverick" and "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part

One."

Paramount declined to comment on the report that said former

Spotify executive Dawn Ostroff, Sony Entertainment ex-president

Nicole Seligman and Redstone attorney Rob Klieger were expected

to step down in coming weeks, the Journal reported.

Seligman, who is also on the board of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI,

and Ostroff are on a special committee of independent directors

tasked with pursuing the best possible deal for Paramount,

whether that is with Skydance or another suitor, the report

added.

Rob Klieger did not immediately respond to a Reuters request

for comment and the other two directors could not be immediately

reached.

The potential departures would reduce Paramount's board to

eight members.

The exits could be disclosed in an SEC filing by Paramount

as soon as this week, the report said.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)