US media CNBC quoted sources as saying that Paramount Global and investors led by the entertainment group Skydance Media hope to finalize the terms of the merger between the two companies in May, and the biggest obstacle they face is the agreement between Paramount and the cable TV operator Charter.
According to the report, the two sides are about to reach a consensus on the valuation of Skydance. The combined total of Skydance CEO David Ellison and the private equity firms KKR and RedBird that support him will inject $4 billion to $5 billion into the merged company, of which $2 billion will be used to acquire the stake held by Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, and the rest will be used to reduce debt.
Skydance hopes that after the merger, the company will be led by Ellison as CEO and Jeff Shell as president. Shell originally was the CEO of NBCUniversal.
On the other hand, Paramount is in talks with private equity firm Apollo and Sony for acquisitions, but the terms have not been finalized.
Paramount, Skydance, KKR, RedBird, Apollo, and Sony, among others, declined to comment on the above news.
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