With each passing week, the line of suitors expressing interest in Paramount Global grows longer. The latest news is that media mogul Byron Allen has sent emails and text messages outlining his proposal to Paramount execs including CEO Bob Bakish and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. Allen’s bid is reported to amount to $14.3 billion for the company and an additional arrangement to cover outstanding debts that would increase the sum to as much as $30 billion.
This offer is the most recent in a series of proposals Redstone has received for her stake in Paramount Global’s media businesses. Others include “frameworks” for a possible deal submitted by David Zaslav at Warner Bros. and David Ellison at Skydance Media.
In recent years, Allen has floated several bids to acquire large media and entertainment companies, including one for Paramount in April 2023 and cable channels ABC, BET, and True Crime Network. However, the fact that none of those offers have resulted in an actual transaction leads some to doubt the viability of this latest proposal for Paramount.
Allen has made his fortune with cable networks and did manage to reel in The Weather Channel for $300 million in 2018. Allen has scooped up other cable assets while traditional media companies have retreated from the sector, telling CNBC that cable channels are “still great businesses if you know how to manage them properly.” With Allen focused on cable assets and Ellison on the film studio, some reports have surfaced that the two may team up to partition the various Paramount assets according to their areas of expertise.