Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sony Picture Entertainment and Apollo Global Management have made a $26 billion all-cash offer to buy Paramount. This comes as Skydance has reportedly offered about $5 billion for a merger offer with Paramount. Now, the New York Times has reported that Paramount has decided to start official negotiations with Sony and Apollo.
Sony will reportedly be the majority owner of Paramount if the deal is accepted, and Apollo Global Management will take a minority stake.
However, this all comes as Variety reported that Paramount would likely turn down both Skydance and Sony/Apollo’s offers for the company.
Currently, Paramount Global is controlled by media executive Shari Redstone. Redstone also controls National Amusements, which owns 77% of Paramount’s voting shares. Reportedly, the Redstone family is also looking to sell their 77% ownership of Paramount. With that ownership, the Redstone family needs to be on board with any deal, and it has been reported that they are more interested in a deal like this than other deals, like the offer from Appollo Global Management to buy just the studios.
Any merger seems to need to be for the full Paramount company to include its cable TV networks, which include Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, and multiple movie theaters.
The news comes as the entertainment industry faces difficult times with cable TV viewership is declining and a majority of streamers struggling to achieve profitability. Paramount’s streaming service, Paramount+, is among the companies fighting to stay afloat.
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