Step two would see Paramount acquire Skydance in an all-stock deal valued at circa $4-5 billion.
Thats being worked on and will likely wind up at the high end of the range.
The company would stay together and stay public.
Shari RedstoneViacomCBS
The partners have not made a formal offer yet given the ongoing Paramount-Skydance talks.
The duo would also need time for due diligence, the deep dive into Paramounts financials offered to Skydance.
A number of institutions have threatened to sue Redstone and the board for a breach of fiduciary duty.
Most own the B shares.
Litigation is par for the course in M&A.
If this deal closes, only time will tell how strong the case is.
Skydance would collapse the two classes of shares.
Investors like the Ellisons and RedBird will have significant skin in the game.
David Ellison would run Paramount with Jeff Shell as president.
Other roles are TBD, including one for Jeff Zucker.
Skydance chief creative officer Dana Goldberg would play a big role in a combined company.
The seasoned exec subsequently joined RedBird as its chairman for sports and media investments.
Zucker heads a RedBird joint venture with IMI, an Abu Dhabi-based investment fund.
Sonys joining Apollo was a twist.
Deadline hears that while Apollos lone bid included Saudi money, the offer its contemplating with Sony does not.
Talent, and their agents, would not be thrilled at having one less place to shop projects.
One can assume duplicative roles would results in layoffs in a Sony acquisition.
Shell engineered something similar at Universal Television in 2020.
A Disney restructuring under Bob Iger early last year created a new Disney Entertainment division.
Skydance is eying ways to reduce linear costs and boost margins, Deadline hears.
Paramount is struggling with high debt, ongoing streaming losses and the decline of linear television.
And a looming date is April 30, when Paramounts carriage contract with Charter Communications expires.
