Skydance ‘in early talks’ over all-cash bid for Paramount parent company

David Ellison-led US media company Skydance is reportedly considering an all-cash bid to acquire a majority stake in National Amusements, the parent company of Paramount Global.

Shari Redstone (photo: CPJ Photos via <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shari_Redstone#/media/File:ShariRedstoneCPJ_(cropped).jpg">CC</a>)

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Skydance and its investors – which include Ellison’s father Larry, private equity firm RedBird Capital and China’s Tencent – are in early talks with National Amusements owner Shari Redstone about a potential deal.

The WSJ said the deal being discussed would see Skydance acquiring a majority stake in National Amusements and then pursuing a swift follow-up deal to merge Paramount Global with Skydance. It noted that talks remain at an early stage and could come to nothing.

The report comes less than a month after it first emerged that Skydance was talking with Redstone about a potential deal.

In the time since, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) chief David Zaslav have also met to discuss a potential merger.

Redstone has been reticent to discuss selling Paramount Global in the past. However, amid myriad financial challenges, her determination to hold on to the company appears to wavering and Paramount is considered as a shoe-in to be acquired – either all at once, or in parts – over the next one or two years.

Paramount Global’s assets include US broadcast network CBS, streamers Paramount+ and Pluto TV, its film and TV studio, networks Nickelodeon and BET and its Melrose Avenue studio lot in Hollywood.

Rumours of Paramount’s talks with Skydance and WBD have been greeted by the market in very different ways.

In December, when reports of Skydance’s talks with Paramount first surfaced, the latter’s share price popped. Less than two weeks later, following reports of the meeting between Bakish and Zaslav, shares of both Paramount and WBD took a tumble, with many analysts and investors voicing skepticism over the merits of a deal.