By Financer David Ellison has reportedly made a preliminary offer to buy National Amusements Inc., the holding company of the Redstone family according to Bloomberg.
Doing so would give Ellison the ability to take control of Paramount Global and he has reportedly already had discussions with Paramount about merging with his Skydance Media into a single larger media company after he takes control.
The outlet indicates both sides have hired advisers and are exchanging financial information. National Amusements Inc. controls 77% of Paramount’s voting stock.
Ellison would reportedly finance the deal with help from Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison as well as at least two private equity firms. Paramount’s stock market value is now around $9 billion whereas Skydance is valued at around $4 billion.
Ellison has been working with Paramount Pictures for years as a financier and producer on numerous projects, most notably its biggest film franchises including “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun: Maverick”.
However there’s concerns over potential litigation that could come with any such deal, whilst Paramount has various problems it’s facing at the moment and the fate of the Paramount+ streaming service is uncertain.
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