Apollo Global Management Reportedly Becomes Latest Firm to Engage Paramount in Merger Talks
Apollo is a private equity firm that could end up pursuing some or all of Paramount’s assets, including streamers like Paramount+.
While there haven’t been any official statements, Paramount is still listening to offers behind the scenes. That’s confirmed by a new report from Axios, which reveals that a special committee formed by Paramount has been contacted about a possible takeover by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The news makes Apollo the fourth entity to have publicly reported interest in getting its hands on at least some of Paramount’s assets.
- Apollo could pursue a full acquisition of Paramount or just some of the items on its list of assets.
- The firm could see pushback from regulators thanks to local CBS stations if talks proceed.
- Warner Bros. Discovery, billionaire media mogul Byron Allen, and a group led by Skydance Media’s David Ellison have also shown varying degrees of interest.
Paramount’s parent company National Amusements Inc., and its owners the Redstone family, have been willing to sell controlling interest in Paramount for some time. National Amusements controls 77% of Paramount’s voting stock, so if any outlet ends up purchasing all or a sizeable portion of it, they would have total control over Paramount and its assets.
Axios reports that Apollo could be seeking a deal for all of Paramount’s assets, which include the Paramount Pictures movie studio, BET Media Group, the CBS broadcast network, and the streamers Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Alternatively, it could bid on a select number of those items and leave others alone.
However, as can happen with mergers and acquisitions, regulatory headwinds could be an issue for Apollo if it tries to buy CBS as part of a deal with Paramount. Apollo purchased a majority stake in Cox Media Group in 2019, so an acquisition of CBS and its hundreds of local affiliates might violate regulations that restrict the number of stations that a single company can own. Regulators nixed a deal to take over TEGNA, which owns more than 60 local affiliate stations in various markets by an Apollo affiliate in 2023.
Will Paramount End Up Being Sold?
The future of Paramount is hard to predict at the moment. It’s feeling the pressure to find an investment partner or a buyer thanks to its more than $15 billion in debt. Warner Bros. Discovery was the first to start making serious inquiries about a Paramount purchase in December of last year, but those talks were recently put on hold.
A group led by Skydance Media chief David Ellison is also poking around Paramount, and there has been no word as yet that the group has pulled its interest. If this group acquires Paramount it could take the company private, pulling its stock from publicly-traded exchanges while it attempts to fix the serious financial issues facing Paramount.
Allen Media Group CEO Byron Allen has also expressed his interest, though his history of making bids on big-name assets but not following through over the past year lends to the belief that his pursuit is not as serious. Paramount executives have signaled that while the company is always listening for opportunities to improve the position of its shareholders, it also wants to try and execute its own plan for a financial turnaround before turning to mergers.
The company clearly has a few suitors if it does find selling assets is a necessity. Apollo Global Management is the latest firm to communicate its interest to Paramount, which may have to make some highly consequential decisions about its future in the coming months.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.