Paramount Shares Leap As Investors Cheer Sony-Apollo Scenario

Paramount Global says Chris McMarthy is the company’s “interim principal executive officer,” a necessity required by the SEC that apparently does not signal he has more decision-making power among a trio of top executives who stepped up to replace Bob Bakish this week in a new Office of the CEO.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UPADTED: After months of M&A talks, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone might be going it alone after all — for now. Insiders tell Variety that the expectation at the company is that neither of the two offers in play — Skydance Media-RedBird Capital Partners and Sony Pictures Entertainment-Apollo Global Management — will come to fruition. And Redstone is said to have reluctantly concluded that a deal with David Ellison’s Skydance, a longtime partner of Paramount Pictures, will not be possible.

Paramount+ has slotted Thursday, June 6 for the season 2 premiere of Criminal Minds: Evolution. The first two episodes will drop on June 6, followed by new episodes weekly on Thursdays. The streamer also released some first-look images, which you can see above and below.

The clock is ticking down to midnight, the end of a month-long exclusive negotiating window between Paramount Global and Skydance Media. The David Ellison company has been circling Paramount for months and lobbed several offers to buy out Shari Redstone‘s controlling stake, backed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures highly-anticipated adaptation of the best-seller Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow is gaining some serious momentum as Oscar winner Siân Heder has been tapped to direct the adaptation which is based on the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name by Gabrielle Zevin. Mark Bomback wrote the script based off a draft penned by Zevin. Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey and Isaac Klausner will produce. Zevin will executive Produce.

Partners Sony and Apollo have formally reached out to Paramount‘s special board committee asking to discuss a potential $26 billion offer, Deadline has learned. It comes as Par’s exclusive negotiating window with David Ellison‘s Skydance is set to expire.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In the latest twist in Paramount Global‘s M&A saga, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management reportedly have made a bid to take Paramount private with an all-cash buyout offer of $26 billion. Sony and private-equity giant Apollo submitted an offer letter Wednesday to Paramount Global, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The report comes as Paramount Global board’s special committee established to consider M&A proposals is evaluating the best and final offer from Skydance Media to merge Paramount and Skydance, while keeping Paramount Global public.

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Walter Hauser‘s hot streak continues. After seeing New Line lock up rights to the authorized Chris Farley biopic in which he’ll star for director Josh Gad, the actor has signed on to the untitled Naked Gun reboot from Paramount Pictures.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has signed a one-year deal that is a mix of exclusive and non-exclusive library titles for the Pakistan market with streamer Begin. Backed by venture accelerator Z2C Limited, Begin is an SVOD platform that serves the Southwest Asian region, with licensed deals in live sports and entertainment.

Paramount Global, which is in the midst of corporate upheaval on a number of fronts, got a slight reprieve in one key area, extending carriage negotiations with Charter Communications.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The recent broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII boosted Paramount Global‘s first quarter of 2024, stabilizing advertising revenue at its TV operations, as the company’s streaming operations added more than 3 million subscribers and cut losses there by more than 40%. Overall, Paramount narrowed its first quarter operating losses while seeing a 6% uptick in revenue, due in large part to audience and advertiser interest in its Big Game presentation, which set a new viewing record.

Confusion and anxiety reigned at a CBS-Politico joint party today ahead of the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with staffers shocked at news that Bob Bakish, CEO of parent Paramount Global, is set to exit abruptly as early as Monday morning.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Amid the M&A drama enveloping Paramount Global, Bob Bakish is about to step down as CEO after eight years at the helm of Shari Redstone’s media empire. Bakish is expected to resign under pressure as early as Monday.

2024 may end up a banner year in horror thanks to “Nosferatu,” “MaXXXine,” “Cuckoo,” “I Saw The TV Glow,” and “In A Violent Nature.”  But Paramount is banking one of its premier genre entries will find an audience on its streamer, Paramount+.  That’s right, the “Rosemary’s Baby” prequel “Apartment 7A” will premiere on the streamer instead of a theatrical release.   Continue reading ‘Apartment 7A’: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Prequel Starring Julia Garner To Premiere On Paramount+ This Fall at The Playlist.

Skydance and Paramount are deep into hashing out a complicated deal that would see the David Ellison’s studio and its backers take control of the storied film and television company owned by Shari Redstone. The exclusive month-long negotiating period through May 3 is likely to be extended perhaps by a few weeks, Deadline hears, given the complexity of the transaction.

Paramount+ has renewed the animated preschool series Dora for a second season.

Paramount+ has just added another renewal to their renewal/cancellation decisions for 2024.

Jo Ann Ross, whose lengthy run as the head of ad sales at CBS represented a breakthrough for a woman in the traditionally male-dominated field, is formally winding down her tenure at Paramount Global.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management are considering a possible joint bid for Paramount Global. News of the discussions was first reported by the New York Times. Sources close to the situation confirmed the conversations but cautioned that there are numerous obstacles that would need to be overcome before the sides could formally submit an offer.

Remember those rumors, oh, eight years ago about how Sony was a target for acquisition?