Shares of Paramount Global soared 15% Wednesday following a report that Shari Redstone — the company’s controlling shareholder and non-executive chair — had reached a tentative agreement to sell her stake to Skydance Media.
Bloomberg News, citing anonymous sources, reported that Redstone had come to a tentative agreement to sell her stake in National Amusements Inc. to David Ellison’s Skydance. NAI holds a nearly 80% voting stake in Paramount Global. The Bloomberg report didn’t include details on price or other terms.
However, sources told Variety that no sales agreement — preliminary or otherwise — has been negotiated at this point. Reps for Paramount Global, NAI and Skydance have declined to comment on the M&A talks.
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Variety reported Tuesday that Redstone and Skydance were close to establishing 30-day window for exclusive deal talks after months of discussions. According to knowledgeable sources, NAI and Skydance have now entered into a provisional agreement covering such exclusive negotiations, likely with a basic outline of potential deal terms.
Paramount Global stock closed at $13.52/share Wednesday, up 15% on the day, but still well off its 52-week high of $24/share.
The talks between Redstone’s NAI and Skydance — the production company behind film franchises including “Mission: Impossible” and “Transformers” in partnership with Paramount — and Skydance’s finance partners including RedBird Capital were expected to heat up after private-equity giant Apollo Global Management last month floated an offer for Paramount Pictures alone said to be valued at $11 billion.
It’s understood that Redstone would prefer that the company’s major film and TV assets stay largely intact in a sale, not only to maximize the deal value but also to protect the legacy of the media empire that her father, the late Sumner Redstone, had built. According to sources familiar with the situation, Apollo Global made a cash bid worth more than $27 billion for entirety of Paramount Global on March 31 — but that Redstone declined to engage with the new overture.
Paramount Global’s assets include Paramount Pictures; the CBS network and owned local stations; cable networks including Comedy Central, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon; and the direct-to-streaming business housing Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Redstone’s conversations with Skydance have been held on and off since at least last November. The uncertainty around the company’s future has become a handicap for Paramount as it looks to cut deals with creative talent and other business partners.
SEE ALSO: Apollo Global Offered $27 Billion for All of Paramount Global but the Bid Was Rebuffed
