Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements, speaks at the WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, on Oct. 21, 2019.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Paramount shares surged 9% in after-hours trading Tuesday after reports emerged that David Ellison’s Skydance had reached a preliminary deal to acquire the media company’s controlling shareholder, National Amusements, and thus control of Paramount.
The preliminary agreement, reported by The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, would mark a rapid resurrection of a previously failed deal between Skydance and National Amusements, which is controlled by Shari Redstone.
The specific terms of the deal could not be learned by the Journal or the Times.
The previous deal between the two would have given Redstone $2 billion, with Skydance buying out roughly half of Paramount’s controlling shares for $4.5 billion, along with a $1.5 billion cash payment to go towards Paramount’s balance sheet, CNBC reported earlier.
A spokesperson for Paramount declined to comment. Representatives for Skydance and National Amusements, which is controlled by Redstone, did not immediately return a request for comment.
National Amusements, the Redstone family’s holding company, has referred the deal to the Paramount special committee, which is tasked with reviewing bids for the company, the Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. Other interested bids included a joint effort from private equity firm Apollo and Sony, as well as a recent entreaty from Barry Diller, chairman of media conglomerate IAC as well as a former Paramount executive.
Redstone abruptly ended negotiations between Skydance and National Amusements last month, just as the two sides were near the finish line. The winding deal process had already led to the departure of CEO Bob Bakish earlier this year, leaving in place a three-headed office of the CEO to run the company.
— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman contributed to this report.