Private equity firm Apollo Global Management has made an $11 billion offer to wrest Paramount Global’s Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures from media heiress Shari Redstone’s debt-ridden remaining company. It is reported that he did.
The surprising offer comes as an independent committee of the company’s board of directors considers a competing bid from Skydance Media for all of Paramount Global, which also owns CBS and Comedy Central. , Nickelodeon, and the streaming service Paramount+. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
A representative for Paramount Global declined to comment.
Apollo, which manages $512 billion in assets, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apollo led by Mark Rowan reached Axios News reported in early March that Paramount had consulted a special committee on potential acquisitions and asset acquisitions.
Paramount Pictures, the studio behind films such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Mission: Impossible 8” and “A Quiet Place,” has also been interested in Netflix in recent years, the newspaper reported.
Redstone, the media conglomerate’s controlling shareholder through its stake in parent company National Amusements, is reluctant to part with the company’s crown jewels.
But under financial pressure, as the Post reported, Redstone sold some of its National Amusement real estate holdings last month in a dispute to pay off $40 million in debt, but has not accepted the Apollo program. may agree to split up the company.
Apollo’s $11 billion offer is more than Paramount Global’s entire market capitalization, which currently stands at about $7.7 billion.
Paramount stock rose 10% after the Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
The studio business is attractive to investors, given its vast library, which includes “The Godfather” and “Indiana Jones,” and the demand for programming in the streaming industry.
At the same time, revenue from Paramount’s television networks (BET, MTV, CBS, etc.) continues to decline due to cord-cutting.
A deterioration in the global entertainment business has wiped billions of dollars from the media company founded in 2019 when CBS and Viacom reunited in a heated battle.
Redstone, the daughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone, believes media assets are undervalued by investors and is exploring her options.
The company last month reported fourth-quarter total sales of $7.64 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $7.85 billion, according to LSEG data.
Paramount will be taken private following a bid from Skydance Media, the production company run by David Ellison. Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, is expected to help finance the deal.
Financial terms of the offer were not disclosed.
Paramount is also in talks to merge with media giant Warner Bros. Discovery. Streaming partnership or joint venture The Wall Street Journal reported last month about the partnership with Comcast.
Media entrepreneur Byron Allen It has been submitted Allen Media Group said in an emailed statement to Reuters in late January that it had made a $30 billion offer, including debt and equity, for Paramount Global.
