(New York) The American investment company Apollo has made an offer of 11 billion dollars to buy Paramount Studios, writes Wednesday Wall Street Journalreferring to unidentified sources close to the case.
“Apollo’s offer is greater than the total market capitalization of Paramount Global, which is currently around $7.7 billion,” notes the WSJ.
Following the publication of this information by the WSJParamount Global stock ended Wednesday’s session on the New York Stock Exchange up 11.80%, and that of Apollo up 1.72%.
Contacted by AFP, Paramount Global did not wish to comment on this information while Apollo did not immediately react.
The American financial daily specifies that this proposal comes at a time when an independent committee, made up of directors of Paramount Global, is examining a larger project initiated by Skydance Media.
The latter in fact wants a merger with the entire Paramount group (CBS, Nickelodeon, studios, etc.), notes the WSJ.
The newspaper specifies that Skydance presented its project to National Amusements – parent company of Paramount which is controlled by Shari Redstone – a company which has control over nearly 80% of Paramount’s shares with voting rights.
American media mogul Byron Allen also made an offer for Paramount Global, valued at $14.3 billion, but including debt the deal would be worth around $30 billion, an Allen spokeswoman said. Media Group on January 31.
Originally a comedian and actor, this 62-year-old African-American created, from scratch, a media group based on television, in an environment where black executives were very little represented in decision-making circles.
Its largest asset to date is The Weather Channel, purchased for $300 million in 2018.
Perceived as the smallest of the big players in television and streaming, Paramount Global has been the object of desire for many months.
Its streaming platform, launched in March 2021, had 63 million subscribers at the end of September.
Formerly called ViacomCBS, the media company controls the CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central channels, as well as the Paramount film and television studio.
“While the studio is attractive, given its vast catalog and the demand for new programming in the streaming industry, Paramount’s television networks are declining as cable withers,” the company said. Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
At the end of December, the news site Axios reported discussions regarding a possible merger between Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discovery.