City Redbird Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Shares of Paramount Global edged lower Thursday, day three in the red, amid lingering uncertainty around Skydance’s latest offer. With bigger than anticipated sweeteners for Class B shareholders, it was approved by Par’s special board committee and sent on to controlling shareholder Shari Redstone but with no announcement forthcoming.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Paramount Global‘s months-long M&A drama may soon be coming to a conclusion. The special committee established by Paramount Global’s board of directors to evaluate M&A proposals has reached an agreement with David Ellison’s Skydance Media and his private-equity backers on the terms of a complicated deal that would merge Skydance and Paramount while keeping Paramount publicly traded, Variety has confirmed. Skydance and its partners, RedBird Capital and KKR, sweetened the original buyout offer to make it more attractive to nonvoting shareholders of Paramount Global.

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.

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.

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.

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 Global shares jumped 13% Friday as investors cheered news that Sony Pictures Entertainment is talking with Apollo Global Management about joining Apollo’s bid for Paramount.

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

Paramount Global‘s beleaguered stock faltered Monday as investors fretted over the ongoing talks between controlling shareholder National Amusements Inc. and Skydance Media.

Paramount Global shares, which soared Wednesday on news that Apollo had made an $11 billion offer for Paramount Pictures, has slumped today after a report splashed cold water on the scenario.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shari Redstone looks like she remains firmly opposed to breaking up Paramount Global. Redstone, president of National Amusements Inc. — the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global — was “unconvinced” by Apollo Global Management’s $11 billion offer to buy Paramount’s film and TV studio, the Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources.

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing that Apollo Global Management, who was mulling an offer for National Amusements, the Redstone family company that controls Paramount Global, is no longer considering that now.

The Offer is the name of a series on Paramount+. Now, it could be the logline for Paramount Global.

RedBird IMI, a joint venture investment firm led by Jeff Zucker, has taken a stake in The Morning Show production entity Media Res.

Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have held talks about a potential merger of the two media companies, Variety has confirmed.

EXCLUSIVE: There’s a lot of noise in town about Skydance Boss David Ellison and RedBird Capital making a go at Paramount Global, but via National Amusements.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jeff Zucker, the former president of CNN and onetime CEO of NBCUniversal, is eying a push by right-leaning British newspaper The Daily Telegraph into the U.S. if his company’s bid to buy the title is successful.

The XFL, whose latest revival as a springtime alternative to the NFL has been steered by Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia, is merging with the USFL.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rani R. Raad, a former president of CNN Commercial Worldwide, has been appointed CEO of Abu Dhabi-based media company International Media Investments.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Jeff Zucker is not shopping for CNN, according to one of the backing partners of his new media venture. Gerry Cardinale, the private equity player and founder of RedBird Capital, partnered with International Media Investments last year to launch a $1 billion media acquisitions engine run by Zucker. Reports were rampant in June that Zucker was looking to take CNN off the hands of Warner Bros. Discovery, after running the news network for decades before resigning in 2022 over a consensual workplace affair. “No,” Cardinale said on Thursday when asked if he and Zucker were looking to buy CNN, speaking on stage at the Variety and Sportico Sports and Entertainment Summit in West Hollywood. “I would not have the longevity that I’ve had if I ran my business running around town talking about deals in a way that’s, frankly, disrespectful to David Zaslav. I’m kind of amused and irritated by it.”

Wrexham FC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny and Creed actor Michael B. Jordan have invested in Formula 1 team Alpine.

EXCLUSIVE: Unstoppable has, in fact, been stopped — at least for now. Production on the wrestling drama, starring Jennifer Lopez and Jharrel Jerome, paused for the day earlier this morning following picketing at their shooting location near USC.

Mo Willems is stepping further into the multimedia entertainment world. The globally best-selling and award-winning children’s book author will team with Stampede Ventures and RedBird Capital to form Hidden Pigeon Company.

EXCLUSIVE: Jharrel Jerome, the Emmy winner, Moonlight actor and EP/star of the upcoming Prime Video series, I’m a Virgo, which just premiered at SXSW, has signed on to star in Artists Equity’s tentatively titled Unstoppable, the Jennifer Lopez starring, Billy Goldenberg directing project we first told you about yesterday.

EXCLUSIVE: As Amazon Studios is set to debut Artists Equity’s first movie, Air, at SXSW’s closing night, the Ben Affleck-Matt Damon production company is in final talks to make their second feature, currently titled Unstoppable, starring Jennifer Lopez.

Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment is selling a majority stake to Paris-based Mediawan, Deadline has confirmed, following news several months ago that the company was seeking a buyer.

Ben Affleck says his newly minted studio Artists Equity, in partnership with Matt Damon, is going for films that are commercial but smart, that acknowledge popular tastes, but that “people remember 20 years later.”

As Deadline’s Mike Fleming reported back in June of this year, Redbird Capital Partners has today confirmed details in that story. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gerry Cardinale are launching an artist-led studio that partners with filmmakers to empower creative vision and broaden access to profit participation.