It was only half a decade ago when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, thus taking another major film studio out of the moviemaking field. Now it looks like that may happen again, as Paramount Global, which holds Paramount Pictures as one of its properties, is looking for buyers. While it had been rumored last December that Warner Bros. and Paramount might be merging (which resulted in our own Mick Joest becoming worried about Star Trek’s future), now word’s come in that Sony Pictures Entertainment has presented a cash offer to the latter that’s so big, it’s more than enough to make a vault full of gold coins for Scrooge McDuck to swim in.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Sony and private equity firm Apollo Global Management have made a bid to take Paramount private with an all-cash offer of $26 billion. That’s $4 billion more than Paramount’s currently-estimated enterprise value, and in its own report, The New York Times stated that Sony and Apollo sent a “nonbinding expression of interest.” NYT also mentioned that if this deal goes through, it would make Sony a majority and controlling shareholder, and Apollo a minority shareholder.
As such, Sony would take control of Paramount’s operations, which, along with the film studio, includes TV channels like Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and Showtime, as well as the streaming service Paramount+. That last item would especially be beneficial to Sony, as it’s the only major entertainment studio that doesn’t have its own streaming service, so it would suddenly get access to all those Paramount+ subscribers. That’d certainly be a good use for all those gold coins… sorry, cash.
$26 billion is a lot amount of money, although it’s a far cry from the $71.3 billion that Disney shelled out for Fox. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean we should assume Sony will come out on top. The special committee established by Paramount Global is also considering the possibility of merging with Skydance Media, which would let Paramount Global stay public. This particular move is reportedly one favored by Shari Redstone, who, per Variety, would rather do business with Skydance’s David Ellison. Plus, Paramount’s board previously rejected a different bid from Apollo.
This news comes just days after Bob Bakish stepped down as Paramount’s CEO, with Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks and Brian Robbins taking over. Needless to say that if Sony and Paramount merge, it would lead to more sweeping changes across Hollywood, leaving just Sony, Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal as the four major studios. Many people from Paramount would also surely be laid off as a result, but again, there’s no indication as of yet whether the Paramount leadership as a whole is seriously considering Sony’s offer.
Whether Sony takes control of Paramount or Skydance emerges the victor, we’ll let you know either way. For now, use our 2024 release schedule to keep track of the movies coming to theaters and/or streaming later this year.