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March 22, 2024
$11 billion Bid to Takeover Paramount Film and TV Studios
Apollo Global Management offered an $11 billion bid to acquire Paramount Pictures and the Paramount TV studios group. By Ching Wai.
US - The major private-equity firm Apollo Global Management has submitted an $11 billion bid to acquire Paramount Pictures and the Paramount TV studios group. This allegedly does not include CBS, Paramount Global’s cable networks like BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV, or the streaming business unit that includes Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
This offer is reportedly greater than the market capitalisation of Paramount Global entirely - which amounts to $8.62 billion as of 21 March. Paramount Global’s closed up 11.8% on Wednesday, 20 March 2024, with $12.51 per share. However, this stock remains below its 52-week high of $24 per share. Meanwhile, Apollo Global had $75.9 billion in assets at the end of 2023, and had invested in more than 190 companies including ADT, Cox Media Group, Legendary Entertainment, Redbox and Yahoo Inc.
Recently, talks of merger and acquisitions surrounding Paramount Global have been brewing. Skydance Media sought to buy National Amusements Inc. (which owns a 77% voting stake in Paramount Global), Allen Media Group’s acquisition offer of $30 billion, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s merger offer are just a few examples. Paramount chief Bob Bakish had said, “[i]n terms of M&A… Paramount [is] always looking for ways to create shareholder value. And to be clear, that’s for all shareholders… it’s obviously something we are focused on.” Paramount Global and Corncast have had early talks about uniting Paramount+ and NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
In February, Paramount Global had laid off about 3% of its employees worldwide. The company will take a $1 billion charge for the layoffs and content write-offs in the first quarter of 2024, with an estimated $800 million of that sum being related to programming. Paramount has an extensive library of films and programmes, and rights to them. This includes well-known movies like Titanic and Star Trek, and content by Netflix, Max, Prime Video, and Showtime.
Both Paramount Global and Apollo Global have yet to give statements about this bid. However, effects of this announcement can already be felt with Paramount Global’s market capitalisation shooting up from $7.3 billion to $8.62 billion in 2 days. With Paramount Global still having a long-term debt of about $15.85 billion as of December 2023, acceptance of such offers will not come as surprising.
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