Paramount seemed to be in the hands of 41-year-old film producer David Ellison – then a wealthy rival appeared. But the tension did not last long.
Reports of a possible buyer competition for Hollywood veteran Paramount are keeping the industry on tenterhooks – but that is not going to happen after all. The billionaire film producer David Ellison has secured the contract, as the media group announced on Monday (local time). Media manager Edgar Bronfman Jr. has withdrawn his counter offer. The deal with Ellison’s production company Skydance is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.
According to media reports, Bronfman submitted an offer for Paramount last week worth around six billion dollars (currently 5.372 billion euros). Ellison and his partners are investing more than eight billion dollars in the takeover.
At first glance, Paramount’s share structure makes it easy to gain control of the company. More than three quarters of the shares with voting rights belonged to the previous owner, Shari Redstone. In theory, it would have been enough to just take over her share. But then the many owners of non-voting shares would have threatened to file lawsuits if they felt they had been disadvantaged.
That’s why there is a complex deal: Redstone will receive $2.4 billion for its shares. At the same time, Paramount will merge with Ellison’s Skydance Media.
In addition, Ellison, his family and participating investors will raise another $4.5 billion to buy out shares from owners of non-voting stock and pay $1.5 billion to reduce Paramount’s debt.
The 41-year-old Ellison is set to become the new Paramount boss after the deal is completed. His father is Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of the software company Oracle. Bronfman belongs to the family behind the spirits company Seagram and was, among other things, head of the Warner Music Group.
