Private equity group Apollo Global Management has offered National Amusements $11 billion to acquire Paramount Global’s film and television studio business, according to a report.
The report, published by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, said the offer comes at a time when National Amusements is reviewing an additional offer from Skydance Media to consolidate its business with Paramount in total, a deal that would include its broadcast and cable networks.
Paramount’s studio business would include some of the industry’s top intellectual property, including “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Paw Patrol,” “Top Gun” and “Star Trek.” Divorcing the intellectual property arm from Paramount’s broadcast and cable networks could devalue the latter even more, making them difficult to offload to a premium seller later.
It was not clear how closely Paramount was weighing Apollo Global’s offer. The Journal cited unnamed sources who were familiar with the situation.
If Apollo Global was successful in acquiring Paramount’s studio business, it would put the brand in co-ownership with other media and entertainment companies like Yahoo! and Cox Media Group.
In addition to the Apollo Global and Skydance Media offers, Paramount has received a number of unsolicited bids from other media moguls and companies, including Byron Allen and his Allen Media Group. Earlier this year, Allen said he was willing to commit $14 billion to buying out Paramount’s linear television business, a figure that was increased to $30 billion by late January.
