Paramount’s stock fell below $10 per share on Monday, marking a record low for the struggling media conglomerate with its lowest price since Viacom and CBS merged in 2019.
Shares hit a 52-week low of $9.81 per share, well off its 52-week high of $17.50 per share on Dec. 11. The stock finished the day’s trading session at $9.83.
The company, currently at a market capitalization of $6.86 billion with long-term debt of $14.6 billion, has seen its stock price fall 80.5% in the past five years, 37% in the past year, 31% year to date, 36% in the past six months and 18% in the past month.
The latest decline comes after controlling shareholder Shari Redstone scrapped merger talks with David Ellison’s Skydance Media last week. The two-step plan would’ve seen Ellison acquire Redstone’s National Amusements, which controls 77% of Paramount’s voting stock, before merging Skydance with the studio to create a combined company.
In addition to Skydance, private equity firm Apollo Global Management has teamed up with Sony Pictures Entertainment on a $26 billion all-cash offer. Allen Media Group founder Byron Allen placed a $30 billion bid including debt, though it is unclear how that bid would be financed. Additionally, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with former Paramount CEO Bob Bakish about a potential merger, though those talks were later halted.
National Amusements also received two separate expressions of interest from “Baby Geniuses” producer Steven Paul and former Warner Music Group CEO and chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr.
As Redstone weighs her options with the Skydance deal in the rearview window, Paramount will be run by its newly appointed Office of the CEO, which replaced Bakish in April and is comprised of top executives George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins.
The broad strokes of their long-term strategic plan — which was first unveiled at the company’s annual meeting earlier this month — includes streaming partnerships, $500 million in cost cuts and divesting assets. Four individuals familiar with the matter previously told TheWrap that possible assets that could be on the chopping block include Pluto TV, BET, VH1 and the Paramount lot, which would be leased back for the studio’s use.
The trio will hold a town hall with Paramount employees on June 25 and address Wall Street during its second quarter call in August.
