Movie News/New Stuff of Interest

Over the last month, it has become clear that Shari Redstone is very interested in selling her controlling interest in Paramount Global, held through her company National Amusements. Starting with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, several potential buyers were reported to have held talks with Redstone and Paramount in December and January, then Warner Bros. Discovery made big news last month after they entered the mix, but that potential merger was met with severe skepticism by Wall Street and industry analysts. However, analysts agree that Redstone and Paramount management are motivated to make some kind of deal due to the large debt load carried by the company, with the potential of a costly downgrade in their credit rating coming this year.

The latest update is that talks with David Ellison have progressed the furthest. On Wednesday night, Bloomberg first reported Ellison had made a “preliminary offer” to buy National Amusements. This was backed up by CNBC reporting Ellison wants to take all of Paramount Global private. Skydance, which is a smaller company, would need additional financing for such a deal. It has been speculated that Ellison’s father, billionaire co-founder of Oracle Larry Ellison, could help provide capital for the deal. According to Deadline, Ellison is “mainly interested in the studio but Paramount won’t sell its crown jewel alone.” Fortune reports Ellison and Redstone have discussed selling off the cable assets (like Nickelodeon, MTV, and BET), but “they have assured Redstone they will not break the company up into several pieces and their primary motive is to give it the resources it needs to compete with its larger peers in media.” However, they also report “The fate of the Paramount+ streaming service is uncertain.”