Apollo Global reportedly still interested in deal for all or parts of Paramount 

Private equity giant Apollo Global Management is reportedly still interested in exploring a deal to acquire some or all the assets of Paramount Global.

Bob Bakish

News outlet Axios on Tuesday reported that Apollo Global Management had reached out to a special committee formed by Paramount Global about a potential asset purchase or takeover in recent days.

In January, Apollo was linked with a potential bid for the Shari Redstone-owned company. However, a more recent report suggested Apollo was stepping back from the talks.

As it stands, the frontrunner to acquire Paramount Global is David Ellison’s Skydance, which is backed by private equity firms KKR and RedBird Capital Partners. Those talks centre around Skydance acquiring Paramount’s parent company National Amusements Inc (NAI).

According to Axios, Apollo is evaluating a potential deal solely for major Paramount Global assets, including American broadcast network CBS, film studio Paramount Pictures, streamers Paramount+ and Pluto TV and its suite of cable networks. The Axios report added that Apollo may bid on certain assets within the Paramount Global portfolio.

The saga of Paramount Global’s potential sale has been ongoing since December, when reports first began to emerge that it was in early discussions with Skydance.

In recent months, Paramount has been exploring various deal options and structures as Redstone and CEO Bob Bakish look to plot a path forward for the New York-headquartered company, whose share price has dropped by more than 40% over the past year.

In addition to Skydance and Apollo, Bakish also met with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) president and CEO David Zaslav about a potential deal.  However, both companies were punished by the stock market after the talks were first reported, and WBD has since dropped its pursuit.

Media tycoon Byron Allen has also expressed interest, while last month it was also reported that Paramount and Comcast had held talks over a potential streaming joint venture that would combine Paramount+ with Peacock.