Paramount shares went up by 12% during stock market hours Wednesday following The Wall Street Journal’s report that Apollo Global Management made an $11 billion bid to purchase the company’s film and television studios.
At the end of Wednesday’s trading, the stock purchase price sits at $12.51 per share. The market capitalization increased to $8.6 billion for the company, up from its previous $7.7 billion market cap.
Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm, reportedly contacted a special board committee at the media conglomerate earlier in March to discuss buyout opportunities or the purchase of some of Paramount Global’s assets, such as CBS, Paramount+, Paramount Pictures, or the company’s cable networks like MTV and Nickelodeon.
The Apollo bid follows offers from David Ellison’s Skydance Media as well as Byron Allen, whose offers both arrived in January within a week of each other. Allen’s bid totaled to $30 billion including the assumption of debt under Allen Media Group. The offer outlined company acquisition for $28.58 per each voting share and $21.53 per each non-voting share.
The private equity firm has an investment history with entertainment companies like CKx, owner of “American Idol,” which it purchased in 2011. It has also previously held stakes in Cox Media Group, Legendary Entertainment, Sirius Satellite Radio, Barnes & Noble, and Redbox. Apollo purchased Yahoo Inc. from Verizon in 2021.
In December 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish to discuss a merger of the two companies, but talks stopped in February. S&P then put Paramount on a negative credit watch towards the end of February.
Paramount announced layoffs in February that would affect 800 staffers, or 3% of the company’s workforce. Other cost-cutting measures included the consolidation of development and current operations, leading to the departure of some senior executives.
