This week, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Paramount Global has received another bid to sell its business, this time with an offer coming from private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Their $11 billion offer is at a significant premium to Paramount Global’s current market value of $7.7 billion. Shari Redstone, the head of Paramount Global’s parent company National Amusements, is said to be hesitant to sell Paramount Studios, what she considers to be the crown jewel of the company, despite having received over-market offers from Skydance Media previously and now Apollo.
While Paramount’s studio has produced a series of industry-leading blockbusters such as TOP GUN: MAVERICK and A QUIET PLACE horror series, the company’s cable TV properties are a large share of the company’s asset portfolio and these are mired in a long-term decline. ParamountGlobal has also struggled to grow its in-house streaming platform Paramount+, which reports losses of hundreds of millions of dollars each quarter.
These dynamics may eventually push Redstone to sell Paramount Global to one of its suitors. Major media players such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Allen Media Group, and Skydance have all submitted offers at various points over the past six months. Currently, it seems that Apollo and Skydance are together on the shortlist, with a possibility that they join forces to co-finance a deal.