Bronfman's Paramount bid could keep Shari Redstone involved at the company
Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s offer for a controlling stake in Paramount Global could keep Shari Redstone close to the company, if his bid is successful.
Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s offer for a controlling stake in Paramount Global could keep Shari Redstone close to the company, if his bid is successful.
Bronfman is open to having Redstone, currently non-executive chairman at Paramount, remain involved with the company if the Paramount special committee accepts his consortium’s bid for National Amusements, the controlling shareholder, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bronfman has raised $6 billion to challenge Skydance Media for ownership of National Amusements, the holding company founded by Sumner Redstone, according to people familiar with the matter. Both Bronfman’s bid and Skydance’s bid would also include money to buy out a percentage of Paramount Global common shareholders.
At $6 billion, Bronfman’s bid would give cash to about 20% of Class B holders at $16 per share. Skydance would pay out about 50% of current Paramount common investors at $15 per share as part of its bid, according to the people familiar.
It’s not clear if Redstone prefers one offer over the other. The Paramount Global special committee will determine if Bronfman’s offer is a superior proposal for shareholders by Aug. 28. If the committee decides Bronfman’s offer is better, Skydance will then have four business days to match. The deadline for the entire process to be concluded is Sept. 5.
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