Paramount is in talks to open its books to Sony and Apollo, sources say

Paramount Global is in talks to open its books to a consortium of Sony Pictures and buyout firm Apollo Global Management, which is interested in acquiring the U.S. media company, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The sources said that advisors from both sides are discussing the terms of the confidentiality agreement that allows the exchange of commercially sensitive information. This would allow Apollo and Sony to boost their $26 billion bid and oppose the rival bid from Skydance Media, owned by David Ellison.

A special Paramount board committee charged with evaluating the company’s options allowed the exclusivity period to expire in its discussions with Skydance last week.

The sources requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the matter, and said that there is no guarantee that the discussions will lead to an agreement.

A spokesman for the Paramount special commission declined to comment.

Sony Pictures Chairman Tony Vinciquerra first approached Paramount’s majority shareholder, Shari Redstone, several years ago to consider acquiring the movie studio Paramount Pictures, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Shari Redstone was not interested at the time in breaking up the company, one of the sources said.

Since then, Sony has expanded its entertainment business, which includes film, music and television production, as well as distribution and publishing.

Sony Pictures owns more than 3,500 films, including franchises like “Jumanji,” “Resident Evil” and “James Bond.”

By teaming up with Paramount, which produced “Star Trek,” “Top Gun” and “The Godfather,” Sony Pictures will create a Hollywood studio that has the weight of Universal Studios or Walt Disney Studios in terms of box office.

The partnership between Sony and Paramount would give it a 20.5% share of the North American box office, according to a market share analysis by Comscore, based on 2023 ticket sales.

Skydance has proposed a complex deal in which it would pay about $2 billion to acquire the Redstone family’s holding company, National Amusements, which owns 77% of Paramount’s first-class voting shares.

Paramount was then expected to acquire Skydance in an all-stock deal worth about $5 billion. It then proposed a $3 billion offer that would include a combination of stock buybacks and cash that could be used to pay down debt. (Reporting by Don Chmielowski in Los Angeles and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed)