Skydance wins billionaire battle for control of Paramount

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Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Seagram’s scion, dropped the battle to buy Paramount. The billionaire (and former CEO of Warner Music Group) has made a bid to compete with the tentative deal struck to merge the entertainment company with Skydance, owned by David Ellison (son of billionaire Larry Ellison). Now there’s one less rich guy in the mix and a clear path for Ellison the Younger to assume the mantle of CEO for the legacy studio.

“This evening our auction group informed the special committee that we will be leaving the go-shop process. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to participate,” Bronfman said in a statement Monday night (via deadline). “We continue to believe that Paramount Global is an extraordinary company with an unrivaled collection of brands, assets and people. While there may have been differences, we believe that everyone involved in the sale process is united in the belief that Paramount’s best days are ahead. We congratulate the Skydance team and thank the special committee and the Redstone family for their involvement during the go-shop process.”

Bronfman’s concession speech comes after he upped his offer from $4.3 billion to $6 billion, according to deadline. He was backed by a group of 20 investors, although some of them (such as former child actor/crypto king Brock Pierce and Kazakh businessman Nurali Aliyev, per deadline) dropped out before the end. Bronfman’s offer was attractive because it would not include a merger that would dilute existing investors’ shares. However, some reports indicated that Shari Redstone – currently Paramount’s controlling shareholder and the person with the final say on a deal – preferred Ellison as the company’s future leader.

TechnicalParamount is still in the go-shop period until September 5th, so another really rich guy (or a consortium of investors, or another company, etc.) could still make an offer while competitive with what is already available. mass. But based on the reporting of the Bronfman deal, another bid could seriously jeopardize the situation with Skydance. Paramount and Skydance have already had a few false starts — the deal completely fell through earlier this summer — and accordingly deadlinelast week Skydance lawyers accused Paramount of breach of the terms of the merger agreement. Redstone probably doesn’t want to rock the boat with Skydance any further and end up with not deals when Paramount’s stock is in freefall. So all that remains is regulatory approval for the merger, which is expected to proceed without a hitch. Looks like Skydance will get away with this one victorious.