There’s a new development in the ever-unfolding Paramount Global saga. Fresh off the media entity considering an exclusive merger deal from Skydance Media in the midst of losing its latest CEO Bob Bakish, a competing legacy studio across Tinseltown has officially submitted an offer.
Sony partnered with private equity firm Apollo Global Management to present Paramount with an all-cash $26 billion deal on Thursday (May 2). A lot hangs in the balance, including a portfolio of significant brands such as CBS, MTV, BET, VH1, and Comedy Central, Showtime, among others, and the coveted film studio Paramount Pictures and its streaming counterpart, Paramount+.
Sony Pictures is the only studio that lacks a digital streaming platform — Disney has Disney+ and Hulu, Universal has Peacock, Warner Bros. Discovery has Max — so, this deal would highly benefit Sony with expediting the process. Meanwhile, Paramount is tasked with picking a suitor that makes sense for the controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, board of directors, and stakeholders.
Before this point, Paramount circled offers reportedly from Warner Bros. Discovery, but that quickly fell through once it was determined WBD had troubles of its own to be attentive to, and Byron Allen, founder of Allen Media Group, and Tyler Perry, founder of Tyler Perry Studios, who were both interested in buying BET from Paramount Global.
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Now, with Skydance Media and Sony going head-to-head in the battle for the award-winning motion picture studio that brought the world The Greatest Show on Earth, The Godfather, Forrest Gump, and Titanic, what once was of Hollywood is certainly a thing of the past. Should Paramount merge with Skydance, the company will be able to remain public and the adjustment may not be as disruptive since a prior relationship was established between the entities in creating the Mission: Impossible franchise. Although taking the Skydance deal may significantly undervalue Paramount.
On the other hand, if Paramount is acquired by Sony and Apollo Global Management, the company will be private, and due to inefficiencies created by duplicate divisions and operations, it is inevitable that layoffs will take place.
For the greater good, the absorption of Paramount, formerly known as Viacom, is another blow to an industry that was already dealing with the disruption of artificial intelligence and other advanced technology when the pandemic sauntered off production schedules and theater revenues, followed by the nearly year-long union strikes of 2023.
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Even Disney, the legacy studio that seemingly was always in the forefront when it comes to marketshare, has dealt with the instability of the times as the Burbank company managed the acquisition of Fox Studios, a controversial CEO run during the pandemic, and challenges from activist investor Nelson Peltz.
In contrast, just along the 101 highway, Netflix rests easy at its Hollywood headquarters, knowing that first-mover advantage is fully in effect — at least, for now.
