Paramount-Skydance Isn’t Happening
Brian Welk
No more Paramount–Skydance. In a shocking twist, National Amusements (NAI) is ending negotiations over an acquisition with Skydance, even though it looked like a done deal and was previously reported David Ellison‘s company was set to pay $8 billion to gain control of Paramount.
NAI announced June 11 “they have not been able to reach mutually acceptable terms regarding the potential transaction with Skydance Media for the acquisition of a controlling stake in NAI.”
“NAI is grateful to Skydance for their months of work in pursuing this potential transaction and looks forward to the ongoing, successful production collaboration between Paramount and Skydance,” it said in a statement. “NAI supports the recently announced strategic plan being executed by Paramount’s Office of the CEO as well as their ongoing work and that of the Company’s Board of Directors to continue to explore opportunities to drive value creation for all Paramount shareholders.”
IndieWire previously confirmed a special committee within Paramount Global approved a transaction for Skydance to acquire NAI, the holding company controlled by Shari Redstone, for $2 billion, with $4.5 billion going to shareholders and another $1.5 billion in cash being injected into Paramount. The deal would have allowed Skydance to merge with Paramount, but now that appears to be squashed.
Reps for Skydance had no comment.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said it’s likely Redstone will now look to simply sell National Amusements and the controlling stake in Paramount, rather than have the company merge with another media conglomerate. Also waiting in the wings is Sony, which together with private equity firm Apollo offered $26 billion to buy Paramount outright rather than purchase NAI.
In recent days as talks dragged on without the go ahead from Redstone, other buyers have emerged for NAI, including Fubo chair Edgar Bronfman Jr. and Steven Paul, a Hollywood producer. WSJ reported on Monday Bronfman had emerged with a $2 billion bid for National Amusements as backed by Bain Capital to gain control of Paramount via the 77 percent of controlling stock it holds.
What went wrong? As Puck had previously mentioned along with additional reports including in The New York Times, Redstone wanted Skydance to provide legal protection in case any of the minority shareholders decided to sue to block the transaction. The drama continued as Paramount’s special committee fired a PR company it had been using, all as the office of the CEO at Paramount has had to keep mum on a recent shareholders call.
