Paramount and Skydance restart merger negotiations after hitting a snag

Early last month, it was reported that Paramount Studios and Skydance Productions had settled on a big merger, with the deal reaching $8 billion. However, over the course of the month, the road to closing the deal would start to get bumpy. A rep for Shari Redstone’s National Amusements (NAI) stated on June 11 that both parties had “not been able to reach mutually acceptable terms regarding the potential transaction with Skydance Media for the acquisition of a controlling stake in NAI.” This statement followed multiple revisions to the draft for an official offer.

The Hollywood Reporter now says that it’s back to the negotiation table with both companies. On June 25, during a town hall meeting with their employees, Paramount CEO Brian Robbins mentioned “what a difficult and disruptive period it has been.” National Amusements and David Ellison’s Skydance Media are now said to be re-engaging in talks that may lead to a transition in the ownership for the Paramount Global company. The perceived next step is for the agreement to be reviewed under Paramount’s special committee of the board of directors. A NAI rep would decline to comment on the matter, but a source had confirmed this development to THR.

It was once said that part of the merger deal would entail for Skydance to buy out almost half of Paramount’s class B shares for $4.5 billion, $15 apiece. Doing this is giving shareholders a stake in the newly formed company, according to CNBC’s David Faber. Early last month, it was revealed that Apollo and Sony had shown interest in acquiring Paramount in the amount of $26 billion and they had aimed to break up the company. Their proposal was turned down by Redstone as she was more interested in a deal that would keep the company together. The Warners-Paramount rumors would heat up when Redstone met with Zaslav last year. However, Bob Bakish would ultimately step down as CEO earlier this year and three executives at the company would take over the proceedings. This included CBS president and CEO George Cheeks; Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, the head of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.

The potential merger would bring many iconic entertainment franchises under one roof, including Star Trek, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, Transformers, Mission: Impossible, DC, and more. It would also likely see the two streaming services — Max and Paramount+ — combine in order to more effectively challenge Netflix and Disney+.