The Scoop
Media mogul Byron Allen is considering putting together a topping bid for Paramount, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would reopen a blockbuster takeover battle that captivated Hollywood and Wall Street this spring.
Allen was canvassing private investors as recently as this week, the people said, testing whether to try and top Paramount’s pending sale to independent studio Skydance. That deal, struck last month, gives Paramount until Aug. 21 to field competing bids.
Allen in January offered to buy Paramount, which is controlled by the Redstone family but also has public shareholders, for $14.3 billion. But his bid, along with early interest from Warner Bros. Discovery and late nibbles from Barry Diller and Seagram’s heir Edgar Bronfman, Jr., were edged out by deeper pockets. Skydance, backed by billions from CEO David Ellison’s father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and investment firm RedBird Capital, ultimately beat out a joint bid from Sony and private-equity firm Apollo.
A spokesman for Allen disputed this report Friday afternoon, without adding details.
Allen told an interviewer in May that his bid offered regulatory certainty: “This deal will live or die at the FCC. My advice would be to walk into the FCC with someone who is FCC approved, who owns and operates television stations.” It’s unclear if Allen will finalize a bid.
Axios reported this week that Bronfman is also talking to bankers about a revived bid for National Amusements, the Redstone family vehicle that controls Paramount.
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Allen owns the Weather Channel and dozens of other cable channels and network TV stations. One of the country’s most powerful Black executives, he has publicly criticized legacy media organizations for dismissing Black audiences, and previously tried to buy BET from Paramount.
Liz’s view
It’s hard to know how seriously to take Allen, who has a reputation for shooting from the hip. “I’m going to bid on this flower on your lapel,” he told a Bloomberg interviewer in May who asked about his interest in Paramount. “I’m thinking $1 billion.” His $3.5 billion bid for BET was about $1 billion more than rival offers from Tyler Perry and others.
But the optics of the Paramount deal make it ripe for an interloper. The Redstones are getting cashed out, while Paramount’s public shareholders will have to divide a limited pool of cash between them, and about half will end up with stock instead.