Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
Skydance Media has made a deal to buy Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc. and join Paramount Global, the company that owns CBS and MTV. The deal came after talks between Skydance and National Amusements broke down last month. The new terms include a higher price for National Amusements and stronger language protecting the Redstones’ company from potential lawsuits. The buyers have 45 days to look for better deals. Paramount and Skydance, run by David Ellison, have not commented on the deal. The investments could be a lifesaver for Paramount, which has been struggling to compete as people switch from movie theaters and cable TV to streaming. Paramount is also in exclusive talks to sell its Black Entertainment Television network to owners such as Scott Mills and CC Capital.
Illustraed news
Experts say that Skydance Media, an independent film and TV company, has made a first deal to buy Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc. and join with Paramount Global, the company that owns CBS and MTV.
The family business that owns Paramount, National Amusements, will send the deal to a special group of Paramount directors to be looked over, said the person who didn’t want to be named because they were talking about an agreement that hasn’t been made public.
The deal came after talks between Skydance and National Amusements broke down last month. In the past week, they got back in touch with each other, and talks heated up again on Tuesday, the person said.
The new terms include a higher price for National Amusements and stronger language that protects the Redstones’ company from any lawsuits that might come up because of the deal, the source said. Someone who knows about the situation said that the buyers have 45 days to look for better deals.
Paramount and Skydance, which is run by David Ellison, son of Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, both refused to comment. National Amusements did not answer questions. The Wall Street Journal wrote about the deal early Tuesday, but said they didn’t know what the terms were.
The person said that an agreement might be made public in the next few days, but the deal could still fall through.
In late trade, Paramount shares that don’t give you vote rights went up as much as 10% to $11.83.
For the deal Ellison had originally suggested, he and his partners, which included RedBird Capital Partners and KKR & Co., were willing to buy National Amusements for $2.25 billion and add $1.5 billion to Paramount’s balance sheet to pay off debt. The movie and TV company owes more than $14 billion in long-term debt.
If the Ellison group had been able to buy Paramount shares, they would have added an extra $4.5 billion. Talks at the time said that all Class A owners who were not from the Redstone family were to get $23 a share and up to 50% of Paramount’s Class B non-voting shareholders were to get $15 a share.
The investments could be a big lifesaver for Paramount, which has been struggling to compete as people stop going to movie theatres and cable TV and start streaming.
In the first quarter, the business lost $554 million, or 87 cents per share.
Bloomberg News said earlier Tuesday that Paramount is in exclusive talks to sell its Black Entertainment Television network to owners such as Scott Mills, CEO of BET, and Chinh Chu, CEO of the New York-based private equity company CC Capital.
There has been talk about an offer of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion, according to people who know about the situation but asked not to be named because they would be giving out private information.
Source : Bllomberg
