David Ellison’s Skydance Media is reportedly mulling an all-cash bid to take control of Paramount Global through National Amusements’ majority stake, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The potential bid would include backing from other Skydance investors, including his father Larry Ellison, the outlet noted, citing people familiar with the matter. In addition to the Oracle founder, Skydance’s investors include RedBird Capital, KKR and Chinese tech giant Tencent.
If successful, the Ellison-led group would pursue a second deal to merge Paramount and Skydance. The Journal noted that talks between Skydance and National Amusements are in the very early stages and that a potential deal could fall apart.
Representatives for Skydance and National Amusements declined to comment.
The latest update comes after Ellison and RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale were reportedly “kicking the tires” on Paramount’s assets last month, which include CBS, cable television networks such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV and Paramount Studios.
Skydance, which raised $400 million in new capital last year, is valued at more than $4 billion. The company has been a co-producer with Paramount on projects including the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and “Top Gun: Maverick.”
National Amusements, which is controlled by Shari Redstone, owns 77.3% of Paramount Global’s Class A (voting) common stock and 5.2% of its Class B common stock. Paramount, which has seen its shares fall 28.9% in the past year, has a market capitalization of $9.39 billion.
In addition to Skydance, Warner Bros. Discovery has also had talks about a potential merger with Paramount, though the Journal noted that those discussions have not advanced.
