In the race to acquire Paramount, Skydance Media still has the inside track. But there may be more players pulling up in the rearview. According to The New York Times, an investment firm, Apollo Global Management, is in talks with Sony Pictures for a joint bid to take over Paramount, the storied studio behind Mission: Impossible and several other film and TV franchises.
Officially, neither Sony nor Apollo are currently in negotiations with Paramount itself, which is only talking with Skydance. However, the potential deal with Skydance has not been well-received by many of Paramount’s investors. Via Bloomberg, Paramount investor William Riley has formally notified Paramount chairwoman Shari Redstone about his belief that the Spyglass deal is solely for her “personal gains.” Because Redstone has a controlling interest in Paramount’s stock, she is currently pushing for a sale to Spyglass without asking the rest of the shareholders to vote on it.
During an earlier stage of negotiations, Apollo extended an offer for Paramount that would have been valued at $26 billion, which included Paramount’s debt. Paramount seemingly ignored that offer because it is in the middle of an exclusivity deal for negotiations with Skydance. The New York Post recently reported that Paramount and Skydance may not close a deal before that exclusive period expires on May 3.
The dynamics of a partnership between Apollo and Sony have not been locked down, especially since no deal has been made between the two companies. If Sony does enter the picture as a potential co-owner of Paramount, it would give the studio its own streaming service with Paramount+ as well as an expanded library of film and TV shows.
However, the biggest hurdle between Apollo and Sony taking over Paramount may be the U.S. government. Following Disney’s 2019 purchase of Fox’s entertainment assets, the FCC has pushed back on large media mergers, and the combination of two major studios into a single studio may face extreme scrutiny from multiple angles. Since Skydance isn’t one of Paramount’s competitors, it may face an easier path to the FCC’s approval. But the battle for Paramount is far from over.
