Film producer wins the buyer competition for Paramount
Reports of a potential bidding war for Hollywood veteran Paramount have kept the industry on the edge of its seat—but it won't come to that after all. Billionaire film producer David Ellison has secured the deal, the media conglomerate announced on Monday.
Media manager Edgar Bronfman Jr. has withdrawn his counter-offer. The deal with Ellison's production company Skydance is expected to be concluded in the first half of 2025.
According to media reports, Bronfman submitted an offer for Paramount last week worth around six billion dollars. Ellison and his partners are putting up more than eight billion dollars for the takeover.
At first glance, Paramount's share structure makes it easy to gain control of the Group. More than three quarters of the shares with voting rights belonged to the previous owner Shari Redstone.
In theory, it would have been enough just to take over their share. But then the many owners of non-voting shares would have been threatened with legal action if they felt disadvantaged.
Complex deal
That is why there is a complex deal: Redstone is to receive 2.4 billion dollars for its shares. At the same time, Paramount will merge with Ellison's Skydance Media.
In addition, Ellison, his family and participating investors will raise a further 4.5 billion dollars to buy out the owners of non-voting shares. Finally, they will pay another 1.5 billion dollars to reduce Paramount's debt.
The 41-year-old Ellison is set to become the new Paramount CEO once the deal is completed. His father is Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of the software company Oracle. Bronfman is part of the family behind the spirits company Seagram and was, among other things, head of the Warner Music Group. (SDA/swi)
