Paramount Considers Sony-Apollo Offer After Skydance Bid Falls Off
(RTTNews) - Apollo Global Management (APO) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (SONY) have jointly submitted an all-cash takeover proposal worth $26 billion to Paramount Global (PARA), after the entertainment giant's deal with Skydance fell through, according to the New York Times.
Paramount's special committee announced the termination of the deal with Skydance after the exclusivity period ended last week without reaching to a deal, under which the Hollywood studio planned to acquire Paramount's influential stakeholder Shari Redstone's controlling stake and merge both companies.
Under Skydance's proposal, the studio along with Redstone would bring in $3 billion to the business. They planned to pay off common, Class B shareholders at a nearly 30 percent premium to the undisturbed trading price of around $11 per share, CNBC reports.
Earlier, Redstone has rejected Apollo's previous proposal in favor of Skydance as she also wanted to keep the company together.
However, the recent Apollo-Sony offer seems to be a relief for Paramount, as the media conglomerate is tackling with issues such as $14.6 billion debt, first-quarter loss of $286 million, and management change, where CEO Bob Bakish was replaced with three division chiefs, last week.
