As the August 21 deadline looms for other parties to make a run at Paramount (or forever hold their peace), the Wall Street Journal reports that Edgar Bronfman Jr. has not exited the Paramount scene but is in talks with investors and preparing a bid.
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The stock, which frequently jumps about on news like this, is up nearly 8%.
Other potential acquirers like Barry Diller’s IAC have dropped by the wayside given the size and complexity of the business combination, which seemed to leave the path clear for Skydance. David Ellison’s company backed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Gerry Cardinale’s Redbird Capital, announced the circa $8 billion, multi-step transaction in July but with a so-called “go-shop” period of 45 days for Par to field other offers. The window is set to close next Wednesday at 11:59 pm ET.
The WSJ says that Bronfman, heir to the Seagram family fortune and a former media executive and head of Warner Music, has had talks about joining forces with players like Roku, Fortress Investment Group and Hollywood producer Steven Paul, who earlier in the process had put together a consortium for a bid that didn’t go anywhere.
The difference now is that Paul and others, including Ellison, were initially eyeing an acquisition of only Shari Redstone’s controlling stake in Paramount, which would give them ownership of the company for more like $3 billion without having to buy it all in. That’s not in cards anymore. Any deal that comes in now would have to offer more to CBS shareholders than Skydance has.
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Shareholders aren’t all thrilled with the Skydance deal, which calls for Skydance to first acquire Shari Redstone’s stake in Paramount as well as all Class A voting shares and a chunk – but not all – of the Class B common stock. Paramount would then acquire Skydance in an all-stock deal that would dilute current shareholders of the company, which will still be publicly traded.
The WSJ said Bronfman might offer shareholders more ownership. But he also might not end up making a bid at all. New offers go to a special committee of Paramount’s board, which would evaluate how it stacks up against a Skydance deal and make a recommendation to Redstone.
Reps for Paramount’s special committee, NAI and Bronfman did not immediately respond to Deadline’s requests for comment.
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