Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) is considering Skydance Media's revised offer to purchase National Amusements and merge with Paramount Global.
The offer provides nonvoting shareholders an option to cash out at a premium.
Last week, Skydance, led by David Ellison, proposed buying up to a certain number of nonvoting Paramount shares at roughly $15 each, representing a 26% premium, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Under the proposed deal, Skydance and its investors would fund the buyout of National Amusements, inject at least $1.5 billion into Paramount's balance sheet, and allow nonvoting shareholders to cash out some holdings.
Skydance's offer involves a two-step process: first, acquiring National Amusements, which holds about 77% of Paramount's voting shares, and second, Paramount acquiring Skydance.
The revised deal includes additional cash contributions from Skydance's investors, which could be used to reduce Paramount's debt. In an earlier proposal, Skydance had offered $2 billion in cash for National Amusements, but it faced opposition as a perceived favorable deal for Redstone. The revised offer maintains Skydance's valuation at close to $5 billion.
Paramount is facing challenges, including the decline of cable TV, expensive streaming pivots, and a weak box office, causing its market value to plummet.
In May, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK) (NYSE:BRK) sold its entire Paramount stake.
Prior reports indicated Sony Group Corp (NYSE:SONY) and Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) jointly bidding for Paramount.
Paramount stock lost over 21% in the last 12 months. Investors can gain exposure to the stock via Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Communication Services ETF (NYSE:RSPC) and VanEck Social Sentiment ETF (NYSE:BUZZ).
Price Action: PARA shares were trading higher by 4.97% at $12.50 premarket at the last check on Monday.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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