Paramount currently has a deal to sell to Skydance Media, but other buyers have until August 21, 2024, to put in a bid. Now the Wall Street Journal has reported that Fubo’s Executive Chairman, Edgar Bronfman Jr., is looking at putting a bid in to buy Paramount. To do this, he is teaming up with a group of buyers, including Roku.
This group of investors reportedly plans to make an official offer for Paramount before the deadline. If Paramount takes that deal, Paramount would owe Skydance a $400 million fee for walking away from their deal.
In early July, Paramount and Skydance officially announced a deal to merge. With this deal, Skydance will buy the Redstone family’s majority control of Paramount. This is the first step in gaining full control of Paramount.
The details of the deal have now been announced, and it is reportedly valued at $1.75 billion. This gives Skydance control of a media empire that includes CBS, Paramount+, BET, Nickelodeon, Pluto TV, and numerous other properties. Paramount and Skydance have a long history of working together on films like Top Gun: Maverick and the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Shareholders will get between $15 and $23 a share depending on the type of stock they have.
The acquisition comes after earlier talks of a direct sale of Paramount to Skydance fell through. Instead, Skydance opted to purchase the controlling stake from the Redstone family, securing their dominance over the company.
The deal is being described as a complex transaction that will result in a merger of the two companies. Though that process will take time. While the deal has been announced, the Redstone family has a 45-day window to explore other potential bidders. However, if no other offers emerge, Skydance will be able to buy Paramount in August 2024, pending regulatory approval.
With this deal, David Ellison, founder of Skydance, will be the new majority owner of Paramount.
The question is will Paramount find any new deals that it will be willing to accept over the Skydance offer.