A new admirer for Paramount Worldwide has emerged.
Media mogul Barry Diller is considering buying National Amusements Inc., Shari Redstone's company and Paramount's largest shareholder, CNBC's David Faber reported Tuesday.
Dillers IACan Internet media and publishing company, has signed a nondisclosure agreement and is looking into National Amusements' data room, Faber said Tuesday. IAC could decide in the near future to make a bid for National Amusements, which would give it a controlling interest in Paramount, he said, citing sources.
These discussions came just weeks after National Amusements ended talks with Skydance over a proposed merger with Paramount.
After months of deal talks with a consortium including David Ellison's Skydance and private equity firms RedBird Capital and KKR, the deal was called off pending approval from Redstone. National Amusements, which controls Redstone, owns 77% of Paramount's Class A shares.
Before the proposed merger fell through, National Amusements had agreed to financial terms of the deal, CNBC reported. The proposed deal would see Redstone receive $2 billion for National Amusements, with Skydance buying nearly 50% of Paramount's Class B shares for $15 each, or $4.5 billion. Skydance and RedBird had also agreed to contribute $1.5 billion in cash to Paramount's balance sheet to help reduce debt.
Terms of IAC's potential bid are unknown, but it would likely be more than $2 billion, Faber reported Tuesday. The New York Times first reported reported Diller's interest in Paramount.
Although Diller, 82, is currently chairman of IAC and Expedia, he has a long track record in the media industry, including serving as chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures in the 1970s and 1980s. He followed Paramount with a post at the helm of 20th Century Fox, where he greenlit Fox network programs including “The Simpsons.”
Diller has been vocal about the need for traditional media companies like Paramount to stop chasing Netflix in the streaming war and are targeting their broadcast and pay TV networks.
During the Hollywood strikes this summer, he said that despite the cord-cutting, traditional pay TV was still profitable — unlike most streaming companies. He called on traditional media to rebuild traditional networks.
Diller tried to take over Paramount Pictures in the 1990s, but ran into trouble with Sumner Redstone, Shari Redstone's father, who now runs the company.
Since then, Paramount has changed and grown in a number of ways. The company now includes the film studio, as well as the CBS broadcast network, a portfolio of cable television networks such as MTV and BET, and streaming services Paramount+ and Pluto.
While other suitors Reportedly Because Paramount has an interest in acquiring the company, the company is focusing on restructuring its operations.
Paramount, now led by the so-called Office of the CEO (CBS CEO George Cheeks, Paramount Media Networks CEO Chris McCarthy and Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins), has focused on exploring streaming joint venture opportunities with other media companies, cutting $500 million in costs and divesting non-core assets.
