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Paramount Global (PARA, PARAA) could receive a new offer, this time from Edgar Bronfman Jr., current chairperson of FuboTV (FUBO) and former CEO of Warner Music Group (WMG). Bronfman is preparing a bid for both Paramount and its parent company National Amusements, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Morning Brief Anchors Brad Smith and Seana Smith break down the latest development for Paramount and what it could mean for the company moving forward.
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This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino
We're still talking about Paramount? Yeah, we are. Paramount might get another bidder. Media executive, Edgar Bronfman Jr. is preparing to bid for the entertainment giant and its controlling shareholder National Amusements. That's according to the Wall Street Journal. Now, Bronfman formally ran Warner Music and Liquor Giant Seagram. Uh, the Wall Street Journal reporting that the bid can come within the next few days even. So, uh, we got a little fisticuffs for Paramount here in the production there. Um, my goodness. I I only wonder what Skydance is going to do in reaction to this.
Yeah, and this is a saga that seems like it's almost never ending at this point. Here we are, weeks out from when they did reach a deal with Skydance, and here we could potentially have a new bitter. So, so, so what does all this mean? The deal subject to a go-shop period that deal with Skydance, where other potential buyers can make those offers. That actually ends on August 21st, so later on this month. If Paramount chooses to go with another offer, that means that they are going to have to pay Skydance that breakup fee of $400 million. That's all according to the securities filing. Again, this is contingent on the fact that Paramount would get another offer, then go with the other offer. That is what they would have to pay then for Skydance, if they were to abandon that deal. In in terms of who Bronfman has held talks with, reportedly he has held talks with the Fortress Investment Group, Roku, Hollywood producer Steven Paul, who had previously expressed some of that interest in the bid here for National Amusements. So we will see how this all plays out.
Yeah, I mean, and what ultimately is the biggest delta for the consumer right now, because there are so many different tiers that consumers have had to wade through trying to figure out, do we want advertising for a lower price? Or do we want no ads for a higher price? Oh yeah, plus I'm paying extra for live right now. Maybe that's just a personal quip or a problem that I'm working through mentally and in my own finances, but all of these things considered, with the different tiers that have been put out into the market, it's offered more of an opportunity for the media companies to tap into the digital advertising landscape and get even more of those dollars that would have traditionally gone to cable and linear, and bring those over into a platform where they can get a little bit more targetability as well. So good for advertisers, good for the media companies that are offering these streaming uh options as well. But for consumers, the pricing tiers, that's going to be extremely competitive going forward. Uh uh you know, at what point do we just get to this pricing tier that makes more sense to have just kept cable at a certain point. So, um that's I think what we're going to see play out here is with that pricing optionality is.
