According to Puck and the New York Times, media tycoon Shari Redstone is in talks to sell a majority interest in Paramount parent National Amusements to media and entertainment business Skydance. Shares of Paramount Global Inc. rose 13% on Friday after Deadline reported that Skydance and private-equity company RedBird Capital were rolling the tires on National Amusement, which owns 77% of Paramount. According to the New York Times, Redstone – the daughter of late Paramount CEO Sumner Redstone — has been in talks with Skydance recently, though it is uncertain whether a deal would be achieved.
Redstone also considered a transaction with Amazon AMZN, +0.37%, Apple AAPL, +0.74%, and Netflix NFLX, +0.39% earlier this year
Skydance is one of Hollywood’s leading independent companies, managed by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and has produced blockbusters such as “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” Skydance is backed financially by RedBird. A sale would be a big setback for Redstone, who fought for control of the firm in 2016 and later led the push to merge CBS Corp. and Viacom, resulting in the current Paramount Global. According to Deadline, Skydance is more interested in Paramount’s intellectual property and movie studio and may look to sell its television assets, including CBS.
According to the Times, Redstone also considered a transaction with Amazon AMZN, +0.37%, Apple AAPL, +0.74%, and Netflix NFLX, +0.39% earlier this year. A transaction might herald the start of a significant shakeup in the media business, as traditional TV broadcasters struggle to make a profit in the age of streaming. Comcast Corp. CMCSA, -0.17%, which controls NBCUniversal, may be looking to expand, but Warner Bros. Discovery WBD, +6.01% may be looking to sell +0.84 % for Disney (DIS). CEO Bob Iger reportedly proposed selling ABC but soon backtracked. PARA, +12.11% shares of Paramount Global have risen about 40% in the last month, but are still around flat year to date.
