Paramount Global’s share price soared on Thursday following a report that Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management had made a $26bn offer for the troubled media giant.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the offer was made on Wednesday by Sony chief executive Tony Vinciquerra and Aaron Sobel, a partner at Apollo. Paramount’s shares spiked 12% on the news.
Paramount is home to some of the world’s biggest media assets including Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV and Channel 5. The movie studio’s blockbuster hits include the Mission: Impossible franchise and The Godfather.
But Paramount has struggled with the transition to streaming media and has been riven by internal power struggles. This week Bob Bakish, Paramount’s chief executive and one of the longest-serving media bosses in the US, was ousted amid reports that he had clashed with Shari Redstone, Paramount’s current controlling shareholder, over her plans to sell the company.
Paramount has been considering a merger with Skydance Media, a production company led by David Ellison, the producer and son of Larry Ellison, the billionaire tech tycoon.
Skydance has backed Paramount movies such as Top Gun: Maverick, but the deal has reportedly infuriated some shareholders who have argued it short-changes shareholders and is too generous to Redstone. Skydance has now increased the amount of money that could go toward Paramount’s balance sheet to $3bn, from $1.5bn.
A combination of two of the most famous studios in Hollywood would attract the attention of the Biden administration which has recently displayed a more aggressive stance to big corporate mergers.
Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan has sued to block several high-profile mergers, including Kroger’s $24.6bn takeover of rival grocer Albertsons, and Nvidia’s $40bn takeover of the chip designer Arm Holdings, a bid that was later abandoned.
