Yahoo Finance Paramount Takeover Offer Sweetened by Skydance, RedBird Group
Skydance and RedBird Capital are sweetening their takeover deal for Paramount Global.
A source confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that the investor group, which also includes KKR, has made a revised offer to Paramount’s independent board committee reviewing deals.
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While the specifics of the new offer were not immediately available, it is believed to sweeten the deal for Paramount’s Class B shareholders, many of which have expressed concern about the original offer. Paramount is effectively controlled by Shari Redstone and her National Amusements, which holds more than 70 percent of Class A voting shares.
Class B shareholders have expressed concern that they are not getting the same value out of the deal that Redstone is, with some threatening lawsuits if the company moves forward with the deal.
The original deal on the table would see the Skydance-RedBird consortium acquire National Amusements’ stake in Paramount at a premium (given their voting rights), and then have Paramount acquire Skydance, which would install its own leadership team (led by former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell) and execute its own strategy.
The consortium is prepared to take its pitch to Class B shareholders, should the Paramount board pursue the deal, a source says.
The sweetened deal also comes as another bidder, a joint pitch from Apollo and Sony, continues to talk with the company. Those companies initially made a $26 billion all-cash bid, though there have been reports that they have since softened that offer.
And Warner Bros. Discovery is also sure to look at Paramount, should the company opt to not cut a deal with Skydance or Sony. WBD CEO David Zaslav said Thursday that the company would be “opportunistic” when it comes to dealmaking.
In preparation for a sale, Paramount parted ways on April 29 with CEO Bob Bakish, who had run the company since it recombined Viacom and CBS in December 2019. In the interim, a trio of veteran executives under the title “Office of the CEO” — Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy — are steering the business of Paramount and its brands, from Paramount Pictures to Paramount+, Showtime, CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET, until a new long-term plan is unveiled.
More to come.
Kim Masters contributed reporting.
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