Is Paramount Global Finally Going Under the Hammer?

 


Paramount Global has to take the 2024 record for the most intriguing will-they, won’t-they debate we’ve seen in the M&A space. However, it looks like we could finally be seeing a serious deal on the table for a major stake in National Amusements, Paramount Global’s parent company. Could we be close to a real deal? Brandon Blake, for your entertainment industry law advice entertainment attorney at Blake & Wang P.A. unveils the latest tantalizing details.  


                                                                       Brandon Blake

A Skydance Deal

It looks like the honor of taking over the Paramount mantle is set to go to Skydance Media chief, David Ellison, as has been widely anticipated. Both sides have now enacted a 30-day exclusive negotiation period to see if a final deal for National Amusements can be reached.

 

Under the auspices of the Redstone family, National Amusements controls over 75% of Paramount’s voting shares, and the industry has also been rife with speculation on how this will impact any potential deal. Without adding National Amusements to the mix, there was a real chance that anyone acquiring the Paramount Global group, or a significant portion of its assets, could still have found itself without any real voting power. While there have been many speculations on what kind of deal, exactly, might result from this sticky setup, it looks like Skydance is hoping for the simplest- total acquisition of both entities.

The M&A Darling of 2024

The fate (or should we say potential fate) of Paramount has been one of the leading entertainment news stories of 2024 so far. Apollo Global put down a $26B bid for the whole company earlier this month but seemed more interested in a spin-off for the Paramount studio alone, for which it bid $11B. At this point, it seems clear that Shari Redstone is hoping to keep the entire Paramount Group intact rather than cannibalizing it for ‘parts’.

 

However, Paramount’s finances have been less than impressive for a while now. As a smaller entertainment company in a very complex current landscape, it has been struggling to make a competitive space for itself. While the nature of a whole-group bid is legally tricky, given the need for a separate negotiation phase for National Amusements, it would be good to see the Paramount Group live on as a holistic entity. For now, however, we can only wait and see what comes from the negotiation window, and if a deal can be reached.

 

 

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