One of the world’s leading media conglomerates, Paramount Global is set to change hands in the coming months. Earlier this month, the entertainment giant agreed to sell its assets to Skydance Media, which is responsible for projects such as the ‘Reacher’ series and the feature film ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (2022), both produced in partnership with the company itself. Paramount. The deal is worth billions of dollars, but the exact amount has not been disclosed.
Last month, businesswoman Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements (the company that controls Paramount), had rejected an $8 billion proposal from Skydance itself. The talks were so advanced that shareholders were already preparing to vote on whether to approve the deal. However, National Amusements had determined that it would be better to terminate the agreement because it could not guarantee that the production company would be able to meet the financial commitments for the acquisition of Paramount. In addition to the purchase of shares, Skydance would also make a billion-dollar investment in the conglomerate to reduce old debts.
According to Variety, David Ellison’s production company has teamed up with Gerry Cardinale’s investment management firm RedBird Capital to make a more concrete offer. Exact terms have not yet been revealed, but RedBird controls more than $10 billion in assets, suggesting money won’t be an issue.
The preliminary agreement between the two parties does not yet mean that Skydance will become the new owner of Paramount. The agreement includes a 45-day window during which National Amusements can seek better acquisition offers. Giants such as Sony Pictures, investment firm Apollo Global Management and digital giant InterActiveCorp have already expressed interest.
Such a window would be a way to appease Paramount’s minority shareholders. Since Shari Redstone controls 77% of the company’s voting stock, she has the final say anyway, but it’s not in her interest to anger the owners of the other 23%, who have already made clear their displeasure with Skydance’s initial proposal.
If the businesswoman can prove, in a month and a half, that there is no player more interesting for the negotiation, the other shareholders will be forced to accept the sale, whether or not they are satisfied with the money they will receive. Then, the purchase will still need to be approved by the US government, which will assess whether the negotiation does not constitute a monopoly. An unlikely scenario, since the sale of Fox to Disney was given the green light without many obstacles for either party.
In addition to its eponymous film arm, Paramount Global includes the CBS network, the audience leader in the United States; paid channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1 and BET, and the streaming services Paramount+ and Pluto TV. It also owns Telefe in Argentina; Channel 5 in the United Kingdom; and Network 10 in Australia, among other international broadcasters.
Skydance Media beyond Top Gun
Founded in 2006, Skydance has become a prominent producer in the audiovisual market precisely because of an alliance it forged with Paramount Pictures for its film projects. Together, the two companies have released films such as ‘True Grit’ (2010), ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ (2011), ‘GI Joe: Retaliation’ (2013), ‘World War Z’ (2013), ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (2015), ‘Star Trek Beyond’ (2016) and ‘Transformers: Dawn of the Beast’ (2023).
On television, Skydance was behind the comedy ‘Grace and Frankie’ (2015-2022), as well as action series such as ‘Altered Carbon’ (2018-2020), ‘Jack Ryan’ (2018-2023), ‘Foundation’ (Apple TV+), ‘Reacher’ (Prime Video) and ‘Fubar’ (Netflix).
* With information from Notícias da TV
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