Paramount Global’s new co-CEOs are expected to present their vision for the media conglomerate to shareholders on Tuesday, even as the company’s majority shareholder weighs the possibility of merging the company with Skydance Media.
The trio of executives – CBS Chairman and CEO George Cheeks, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios Chairman and CEO Chris McCarthy, and Paramount Pictures Chairman and CEO Brian Robbins – have led the company since the departure of former boss Bob Bakish in April. Mr. Bakish left amid growing tensions with Shari Redstone, Paramount’s majority shareholder.
Ms. Redstone is also expected to speak.
The company’s annual shareholder meeting will mark the first time the triumvirate will publicly address investors as a group. They are expected to announce strategic initiatives, including their streaming strategy.
Discussions about Paramount’s future come amid sales negotiations that could radically alter the company’s trajectory. In April, Paramount entered into exclusive merger talks with Skydance, but allowed that period of exclusivity to expire to evaluate a competing non-binding offer letter from Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management.
Under the terms of Skydance’s latest offer, Paramount would acquire the independent studio in an all-stock deal valued at $4.75 billion, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. Skydance and its partners, RedBird Capital and KKR, would inject at least $1.5 billion in fresh capital into Paramount, which would be used to pay down debt, and offer to buy 40% of Paramount’s non-voting Class B shares. at a price of $15 per share, the Source said.
Skydance, in a related transaction, would acquire privately held National Amusements, which owns movie theaters in the United States, United Kingdom and Latin America, and owns 77% of the class voting shares. A from Paramount, representing the Redstone family’s majority stake in the company.
The $2 billion deal would give Skydance CEO David Ellison voting control of the largest media company, setting the stage for the merger.
Paramount has lost about $18 billion in market value since December 2019, when Redstone brought together the two halves of the family’s media empire, CBS and Viacom. Like other media companies, Paramount has seen declining fortunes due to the decline of traditional television, while the streaming video service it launched to capture audiences has yet to recover lost revenue.
National Amusements said it was reviewing the terms of Skydance’s offer, as well as two other offers for the private movie theater operator. As of Monday evening, Redstone had not yet made a decision, according to a Source familiar with the matter. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Noel Radewich in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Reese)
