Sony Pictures and Apollo Global are talking about a merger with Paramount Global. The news comes from The New York Times. Of course, with any talk like this, it’s definitely early, and things could always change. When you’re talking the amount of money involved and the legal hoops that have to be jumped through, we’re still far away from an offer. Apollo previously floated an offer of $26 billion for Paramount, and also previously offered up $11 billion for Paramount Pictures by itself.
It’s clear that Apollo wants them, but how does Sony fit into all of this? The concept would call for Sony to contribute Sony Pictures Entertainment to the joint venture that would include Paramount Global. Both companies would contribute cash to help finance the transaction and would make Paramount Global a private company. Sony would be the majority owner of the merged companies that would include CBS. That really adds a wrinkle to the overall deal because there are 28 TV stations that CBS owns and the FCC bars a foreign-owned entity from having a majority control of broadcast TV stations in the US.
This is a developing story and we’ll update when we get more news.
For more on Movie News, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
Source: New York Times
