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Paramount takeover? "A comedian who has established himself at the top of the media business has made a $14.3 billion offer for Paramount Global. A statement issued by Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group (AMG)confirmed the company would take on $15 billion debt from the film studio, TV and steaming business." This comes out of nowhere it seems. I remember not long ago there were rumours that Paramount was in talks with Warner Brothers Discovery. So, it seems that Paramount is ripe for a takeover, but is it becoming a race? #streamingservices #streamingmedia #svod #takeovers #mergersandacquisitions #tvindustry

From THR: The Wall Street Journal reported that Apollo Global Management, Inc. made an $11 billion offer just for #Paramount’s #film and television studio. That is higher than the company’s $7.7 billion market cap when the story was published, and the deal reportedly does not include Paramount’s other business lines, like CBS , BET or the former Viacom cable channels. The fate of Paramount has been the talk of #Hollywood in recent months, with a number of potential bidders circling the company, as well as National Amusements, the Redstone family company that has a controlling stake. Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners and David Ellison of Skydance have held talks with National Amusements about buying that company (and thus gaining control of Paramount), while Byron Allen made a very public $14 billion bid for the entire company, albeit without financing details. Apollo’s bid is likely to be taken more seriously, with financing unlikely to be a problem. The question is what to do with the remaining businesses: Will there be buyers for the linear #TV networks or Paramount+? Perhaps Warner Bros. Discovery would make a play for CBS? Paramount Pictures

Big news in big Hollywood media: Paramount is merging with Skydance, and Oracle heir turned producer David Ellison is the mogul at the head of it all. It's been a drama going on for months, involving complex negotiations with the Redstone family who owned and controlled Paramount since 1994. One of the oldest majors, Paramount Pictures was originally founded in 1914. There would be lots to say about the brand, but to be brief, the company has been struggling and their streaming arm Paramount+ is bleeding cash every month. Cost cutting measures and layoffs are on the horizon with the new ownership. I got interested in new person at the head of it all. David Ellison is the son of Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle. He showed up in Hollywood 15 years ago with lots of trust-fund money saying he loved cinema. He did spend a lot of money, though is also a hard-working, ambitious, and apparently shrewd businessman who clearly stuck it out. He dropped out of university, tried acting (Flyboys), more significantly launched a production company. While he did have a few flops (Gemini Man, Geostorm), he also has a string of big successes particularly with Paramount (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Top Gun: Maverick), and quickly got into producing stuff for streaming companies (The Old Guard, The Tomorrow War, The Adam Project, Air, Grace & Frankie). He produces and has final cut on all projects apparently. If like me you wonder why more and more high budget movies seem so bland and rehashing of things we've all seen many times before, him and his media company Skydance seem worth taking a closer look at. For a different perspective, maybe the mogul is just producing what people will watch and spend money on (what the streaming services will, maybe same difference). Tom van der Linden over at Like Stories of Old published a new video essay titled "How Modern Audiences Are Failing Cinema" in which he explores what he calls "the commodification of relatability, self-righteous moralism in cinema, and constant stimulants." It takes effort to go out of our comfort zones; to stop mindlessly scrolling videos that are served to us by algorithms, watching the same TV channel news, or whatever Netflix is pushing to our home screen. Don't get me wrong, I definitely watch dreadful films all the time, I'm not better than anyone else. It is also totally worth deliberately going out of our comfort zones to get fresh ideas and perspectives. (testing things, not copying urls, sorry) NY Times:  Paramount Agrees to Merge With Skydance A Diminished Hollywood Welcomes a New Mogul Dumb Money No More: How David Ellison Became a Hollywood High Flier Fortune: Who is David Ellison? Heir to the Oracle fortune celebrates his biggest deal ever by clinching control over ‘Top Gun’ studio Paramount Like Stories of Old (Youtube): How Modern Audiences Are Failing Cinema

Very curious to see how this one shakes out considering Allen’s past attempts to bid for ABC, Tegna, E.W Scripps, BET, and Paramount! Paramount Pictures and its surrounding production resources have tremendous potential if paired with the right buyer. CBS, with an NFL rights contract that runs through 2033, is likely the only linear TV asset that retains a fraction of the value Shari Redstone sees in it. The time to sell was 3-4 years ago; think Murdoch starting a bidding war for Fox’s theatrical assets and generating a 71.3 billion dollar sale price. Paramount’s best fit for a buyer is someone looking to replicate Sony’s “content dealer” license revenue model with streamers, or a PE firm with mountains of cash and large scale holdings in linear TV (looking at you Apollo). https://lnkd.in/guUM88_j

Skydance Makes a Move to Possibly Acquire Paramount https://ift.tt/Mcps43I According to many news outlets, National Amusements, the parent company of Paramount, has reached a provisional agreement with the media conglomerate Skydance for a potential merger. We are very excited that there will continue to be five major studios (Disney, Fox, WB, Paramount/Skydance, Sony) because filmmakers need all the buyers they can get in the marketplace. The more buyers, the more movies will get made. I was pretty worried after various outlets suggested that merger discussions between the two companies had ceased. But we're back on. A recent report by CNBC revealed that a preliminary deal has been presented to a Paramount committee for review and voting. The impetus for Paramount's search for a buyer stems from concerns raised by Wall Street and industry observers regarding its financial stability. In response, the company recently pledged to reduce its budget by half a trillion dollars. Yes, you read that right. No word on how they will do that yet. Paramount encompasses CBS, MTV, and Comedy Central, but there's a chance some of these will be sold off or cut to save the aforementioned money. We'll keep you updated as this story progresses. via No Film School https://ift.tt/5HbCcta July 02, 2024 at 07:49PM

Skydance and Paramount are deep into hashing out a complicated deal that would see the David Ellison’s studio and its backers take control of the storied film and television company owned by Shari Redstone. The exclusive month-long negotiating period through May 3 is likely to be extended perhaps by a few weeks, Deadline hears, given the complexity of the transaction. The rough contours of a Skydance deal would see a circa $2 billion payout to Redstone for a majority stake in family holding NAI (which controls Paramount though its voting Class A shares) as well as the National Amusements theater chain and associated real estate assets. Step two would see Paramount acquire Skydance in an all-stock deal valued at circa $4-5 billion. That’s being worked on and will likely wind up at the high end of the range.

In a town known for storylines, Paramount's sale didn't disappoint. The media giant, which owns Paramount Pictures and CBS, has been in the news as an acquisition target since late last year. And just like its movies and television shows, Paramount's sale included twists, turns, and a slew of characters. But the final scene is here, it seems, as Skydance and Paramount have agreed to terms valuing the media giant at $8 billion. So with a deal wrapping up, what comes next for Paramount, and the wider streaming industry? I spoke to Peter Kafka to get some of his takeaways. More on Business Insider #media #paramount #streaming #hollywood #movies #television

From the Journal: Removing Bakish would add more confusion to an already-thorny sale process the company has been pursuing, and would raise questions about whether Paramount is in line for major changes in operational strategy. Bakish has told investors that executing the Skydance deal would be challenging. An independent committee of the board has been tasked with weighing the best course for all shareholders, and has another potential option that some shareholders say they would prefer: a $26 billion, all-cash offer for Paramount from Apollo Global Management, Inc.. The board had concerns about Apollo’s bid, including whether it could arrange financing for a deal, people familiar with the situation said. Since then, Apollo has discussed teaming up with Sony Pictures Entertainment on a potential bid. Redstone succeeded her father, media mogul Sumner Redstone, after a yearslong battle with his top lieutenants and associates, taking pole position in the empire in 2016. Tensions between Redstone and Bakish have been growing. She told associates that as Skydance talks were proceeding, Bakish was pursuing other deal conversations, including over a potential streaming partnership with Comcast, without keeping her or the board in the loop, say people familiar with the situation. Bakish and the cable giant had discussed a potential joint venture between Paramount+ and Comcast’s Peacock , The Wall Street Journal reported in February.  Redstone also has placed blame on Bakish for the company’s overall predicament and what she views as missed chances to strike sound deals. She was open to selling the Showtime premium channel, people close to her camp say. Bakish turned down SHOWTIME bids in recent years, and ultimately integrated its programming into a souped-up version of the Paramount+ streaming service. Bakish is credited in the industry for pushing Paramount into the ad-supported streaming world with the 2019 acquisition of Pluto TV, one of the leading players in the sector. While less glamorous than subscription services like Netflix or Disney+, services like Pluto cater to the tens of millions of consumers looking for free access to shows and movies, and have been popular with advertisers. Paramount’s fundamental business challenge is that #TV isn’t growing, but continues to be the biggest source of its profits. Last year, revenue in its TV and #media segment fell 8% to about $20 billion, while profits in the segment fell 12% to about $4.8 billion. Streaming posted healthy revenue growth of 37% last year, with a lot of customers joining Paramount+, but the streaming operations posted a $1.7 billion adjusted operating loss The company has said that Paramount+ will hit domestic profitability in 2025. Other big media companies like The Walt Disney Company and Comcast are also struggling to turn a profit on #streaming. Overall, revenue at Paramount grew 2% in 2023 to about $30 billion.

Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA) is expected to see continued strong growth in its direct-to-consumer division, while revenues across its TV media and film entertainment segments are expected to moderate. Dive into the analysis: https://hubs.li/Q02zl8830 #marketinsights