Paramount shares soar 15% as Skydance enters ‘exclusive talks’ to buy US studio

Yellowstone (Source: SkyShowtime)

Top Gun producer Skydance is in exclusive talks to acquire Paramount Global, sending shares in the Bob Bakish-led firm up 15%.

The outline of the deal wold see Skydance buying Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, which holds a 77% stake in Paramount Global, and then merging the studio’s activities with its own operations.

Bob Bakish (Source: MIPCOM)

David Ellison’s Skydance has a 30-day exclusive window for discussions, with the move coming after private equity firm Apollo saw a $26bn deal to acquire all shares pushed aside.

Apollo had already seen an earlier $11bn offer for Paramount’s film studio rebuffed.

News of the exclusive talks between Skydance and Paramount, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, saw shares rise by 15% to $13.52.

However, that remains almost 75% down on 2019 following the merger of Redstone’s Viacom and CBS, when the share price stood at in excess of $50.

Paramount’s search for buyers

Paramount has been seeking a buyer for months, with numerous bidders putting forward proposals.

Earlier this year, former Endemol Shine Group owner Apollo offered $11bn for the film and TV studio – but not its streamer Paramount+ or networks including CBS.

The Haunting Of Hill House

The production arm is behind shows ranging from Reacher and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan for Prime Video to The Haunting Of Hill House for Netflix, but the deal was knocked back.

News of Skydance’s interest initially emerged late last year, with the company valued at around $4bn.

It was founded in 2010 by Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and is backed by companies including All3Media’s prospective owner RedBird, KKR and China’s Tencent.

CEO Bob Bakish admitted that the company is “playing through the trough” of a challenging market during a keynote at MIPCOM in October, putting partnerships and “new-age content licensing” at the heart of the strategy.

WBD’s chief David Zaslav and Paramount’s Bob Bakish also met up in New York City late last year to discuss a potential merger but reports in February claimed that those talks had come to an end.

US media mogul and The Weather Channel owner Byron Allen also made a $30bn offer to acquire the entirety of Paramount Global in January.