Sony Pictures, Apollo Offer to Buy Paramount Global for $26 Billion in Cash: Report

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Julia Phelps, Paramount Global‘s executive VP and chief communications and corporate marketing officer, is exiting after almost 20 years with the company and predecessor Viacom. Phelps had long worked with Bob Bakish, who was ousted as CEO of the company last month and replaced by a three-exec committee. Phelps, in a memo to her team Friday, said she will leave Paramount at the end of May.

Former CBS Media Ventures licensing and distribution executive Jonathan Bingaman has been named President, Domestic Multi-Platform Licensing & Distribution for Paramount Global Content Distribution. He will report to Dan Cohen, Chief Content Licensing Officer, Paramount Global and President, Republic Pictures, who announced the appointment in a note to staff.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has seen operating income fall nearly 10% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sony Group Corporation saw its sales climb by 19% to JPY13.0 trillion in its financial year to March 2024, boosted by a sharp depreciation of the Japanese currency. Net profits for the group were down 3% to JPY971 billion. It was a similar scenario at Sony’s ‘pictures division,’ which comprises theatrical film, TV networks and television content production.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Sony Pictures Entertainment has completed state-of-the-art upgrades to its mix stages. Among the soundstages that underwent substantial improvements are the Cary Grant, William Holden, Kim Novak, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn and Jimmy Stewart theaters, as well as Dub Stage 17.

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav largely evaded questions about NBA talks and Paramount Global‘s potential as a WBD merger partner, but he did weigh in on the hot topic of executive pay.

The Mirror. However, Charles — who is estranged from his youngest son, who lives in the United States with his wife and two children — does not want to step on Harry and Meghan’s toes with his gesture for Archie.“King Charles and his team are desperately worried that whatever the king sends to his grandson may be misinterpreted by Harry and Meghan,” Quinn claimed.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Paramount Global goes back to playing the field this week with two suitors still pursuing the company that has been surrounded by a highly public M&A drama for months. And it’s unlikely to end any time soon. The company reached the end of its 30-day exclusive negotiating window with Skydance Media on May 3 without coming to an agreement.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Sony Pictures Television (SPT) executive Steve Kent is leaving his role to focus solely on The Young and the Restless.

Sony Pictures Television has brought on Kate Gill as SVP, Comedy Development. In her new role, she will focus on developing new comedy series for all platforms for the U.S. scripted division. Reporting to Colin Davis, EVP, Comedy Development, Gill will be based in SPT’s Culver City, CA headquarters and starts her new role on May 13.

Naman Ramachandran Some of the Sony Music Group‘s top European artists are backing a voter participation campaign. Sony has launched what it describes as a “non-partisan campaign,” titled Your Voice, Your Power, Your Vote, to encourage voting in the June European Union elections, with a focus on young people and underrepresented groups.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global said it would bake a new suite of data into all ad deals “at no additional cost” that examines whether a commercial spurred a consumer to take a particular action, a measure known as “attribution” that is gaining new sway on Madison Avenue as marketers struggle to determine the effectiveness of their paid media pitches. Paramount said it would offer data from both Mastercard and EDO, a start-up founded in part by actor Ed Norton, that will help clients examine “outcomes,” such as a visit to a marketer’s web site or showroom, or a consumer search for a product being advertised.

EXCLUSIVE: Wednesday and Elvis producer Gail Berman, founder and CEO of The Jackal Group, has signed a three-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. Under the pact, which starts today, the industry veteran will develop and produce scripted series for cable and streaming platforms.

MLS Cup championship match) — thanks to Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass. Apple TV‘s MLS Season Pass is now $69/Season, or 30% off its regular price. In addition, if you’re already an Apple TV+ subscriber, you can get MLS Season Pass for $59/Season — a 25% savings.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice writers and creators of the smash hit Netflix series Wednesday, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, have signed a first-look deal with Sony Pictures to develop films through the duo’s Millar Gough Ink banner, Deadline has learned.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amid Paramount Global’s removal of Bob Bakish as CEO and the ongoing uncertainty of a company sale, it was business as usual for the first quarter at the media conglomerate — which included a $1.3 billion charge for content write-offs as well as layoffs. Paramount Global reported Q1 2024 earnings Monday, announcing Bakish’s exit and the installation of an unusual three-in-a-box “Office of the CEO”: CBS’s George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures’ Brian Robbins.

Sony’s SVP of Corporate Communications for the Motion Picture Group, Tahra Grant, has been upped to EVP, Chief Communcations Officer for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Paramount Global‘s CEO Bob Bakish is out. The executive who has been a presence at several iterations of the company since 1997 will exit, effective immediately. A triumvirate of division heads — Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy — will step in to lead the company for now in a new office of the CEO.

David Ellison’s Skydance has presented Paramount Global board’s special committee with a revised offer to take control of the company, Deadline has learned. Terms weren’t immediately available, story will be updated when they are. The new proposal is likely designed to make a deal more palatable to Paramount investors beyond controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, something that her family holding company NAI had requested.