After several months of negotiations, audiovisual entertainment giant Paramount Global will not be acquired by Skydance Media studio. Even though in the last few days there have been reports in the US press about an imminent close of the deal, National Amusements (NAI), a company owned by Shari Redstone holding 77% of Paramount Global voting shares, has just announced that no agreement has been reached and that negotiations are over. The idea was that Skydance, owned by David Ellison, would purchase NAI shares so as to become its majority shareholder, after which NAI and Paramount Global would merge.
According to a press release issued by NAI,”National Amusements, Paramount Global’s majority voting shareholder, has announced that it has been impossible to agree on mutually aceptable terms regarding the potential deal with Skydance for the acquisition of a majority stake in NAI. National Amusements wishes to express its thanks to Skydance for several months of effort to achieve a deal and is looking forward to continuous effective production cooperation between Paramount and Skydance.”
Given Paramount Global’s high level of indebtedness, the possibility of the sale of the company has been a constant over the last few months. There is no news about the latest official offer, which was made in late April by Sony and Apollo Global investment fund in a joint proposal.
In the midst of the situation described above, there was an important leadership change in Paramount Global. Bob Bakish ceased to serve as CEO and his position was replaced by a CEO Office consisting of three members: George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins.
The strategy put forward some weeks ago by the new leadership to reduce the company’s debt does not contemplate the addition of new shareholders. The press release issued by National Amusements to announce that Paramount Global will not be acquired by Skydance includes the following statement: “NAI supports the recently announced strategy, already being implemented by Paramount’s CEO Office, as well as the constant effort made by the Office and the company’s Board of Directors to keep exploring opportunities with a view to creating value for all Paramount shareholders.”
