Shari Redstone on Tuesday called off a deal to sell Paramount Global parent company National Amusements to Skydance Media amid months of soap opera drama over the media giant’s fate.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the media heir turned down a $1.75 billion offer from the tech heir for a 77 percent stake.
National Amusements confirmed the deal did not go through.
A representative for Redstone’s NAI said the company “was unable to reach mutually acceptable terms regarding a potential transaction with Skydance Media.”
“NAI thanks Skydance for their hard work over the past months in pursuing this potential transaction and looks forward to a successful continued production collaboration between Paramount and Skydance,” the rep said, adding: “NAI supports the recently announced strategic plan being implemented by Paramount’s CEO Office.”
As soon as news broke that the deal had fallen through, Paramount’s stock price plummeted by nearly 8%.
Paramount’s three co-CEOs recently announced plans to cut costs and find a partner for its loss-making streaming service, Paramount+.
Redstone is likely to pursue a sale of only National Amusements, which owns a 77% stake in Paramount, but is reportedly not likely to merge the media giant with any other company. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
NAI has attracted interest from two investors: a consortium led by Hollywood producer Steven Paul and Edgar Bronfman Jr., a media executive backed by private equity firm Bain Capital.
Under Skydance’s proposal, the production company behind hits such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1” would acquire National Amusements for approximately $1.7 billion in cash.
The second part of the deal would see Skydance merge with Paramount, which owns Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon, in a stock transaction.
The move is subject to review by Paramount’s committee of directors, which recently approved the financial terms of the merger but is still negotiating with Skydance on other aspects of the transaction, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Close the deal. Alamy Stock Photo
The media outlet said the points included requiring the acquisition to be put to a vote of all other shareholders, with National Amusements supporting the vote, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Skydance said such a vote would be “futile,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
The committee was scheduled to vote on the Paramount-Skydance merger Tuesday afternoon, but it is unclear if the vote has taken place.
