Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management have made a major move in the entertainment industry by proposing a bid to take Paramount Global private. The all-cash buyout offer, valued at a staggering $26 billion, includes the assumption of debt and could potentially be negotiated further. This bid represents a significant premium over Paramount Global’s current enterprise value of $22 billion.
Currently, Paramount Global’s special committee is carefully considering a separate offer from Skydance Media, which involves merging Paramount and Skydance while keeping Paramount Global a public entity. This decision has sparked the interest of investors, causing shares of Paramount Global to surge by 13% following the announcement of Apollo and Sony Entertainment’s bid.
If the bid is successful, Sony Corp. would merge Sony Pictures Entertainment into a joint venture with Paramount Global. On the other hand, the Skydance scenario would involve selling Redstone’s stake in National Amusements to Skydance, subsequently leading to a merger with Paramount Global in an all-stock deal.
The potential combination of Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures would likely have significant ramifications for the industry, including mass layoffs and reducing the number of major Hollywood studios from five to four. In a related development, Bob Bakish was recently ousted as CEO of Paramount Global and replaced by a trio of senior executives.
As the entertainment world eagerly awaits the outcome of these negotiations, the landscape of Hollywood could be on the brink of a major transformation. Stay tuned for more updates on this unfolding story.
