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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Paramount shares surged Friday after The New York Times reported that Sony is in talks with Apollo Global Management about joining a bid for the media giant.
- The two companies have not submitted an official bid as Paramount is still in exclusive merger conversations with Skydance Media.
- The potential deal with Skydance has generated significant investor pushback, while Paramount had initially rejected Apollo’s initial offer to buy the company for more than $26 billion.
Paramount Global (PARA) shares soared close to 8% in early trading Friday after The New York Times reported that Sony Group’s (SONY) studio division was in talks with Apollo Global Management about joining a bid for the media giant.
The two companies have not submitted an official bid, according to the report, as Paramount is still in exclusive merger conversations with Skydance Media.
The potential deal with Skydance has received significant investor pushback, while Paramount had initially rejected Apollo’s initial offer to buy the company for more than $26 billion, including debt, amid questions about the investment firm’s financing.
Paramount, the owner of broadcaster CBS, is controlled by Shari Redstone, who has a large voting stake through Redstone’s National Amusements. She took control of National Amusements, her family’s media empire in 2019 and united CBC with Viacom to create Paramount Global.
Redstone had also rebuffed a separate $11 billion offer for Paramount’s film studio previously.
Paramount’s prized asset, besides CBS, is its iconic Hollywood studio with valuable franchises such as the “Star Trek” and “Transformers” movies.
Last month, S&P Global Ratings lowered Paramount’s rating to junk at “BB+” from “BBB-” because of the media company’s high debt load and its struggles in making streaming profitable.
“Paramount will need to execute its plan to substantially improve streaming losses over the next two years to mitigate further downside ratings pressure,” S&P said in its statement last month.
Paramount has been the focus of takeover talk the past year. It was reportedly in early talks for to create an entertainment behemoth with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in December, while media entrepreneur Byron Allen is said to have offered $30 billion for the company’s outstanding stock and debt earlier this year.
Shares of Paramount were up 7.9% to $11.84 shortly after the open Friday. Even with Friday’s gains, they’ve lost close to 20% of their value since the start of 2024.