The board of directors has to walk a fine line, looking out for investors without running afoul of Redstone, the company’s most influential shareholder.
Paramount Global, the parent of CBS and MTV, is getting closer to a deal to merge with independent producer David Ellison’s Skydance Media. Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, has reached a tentative agreement to sell her stake to Skydance, people with knowledge of the situation said. In addition, Paramount and Skydance have agreed on the broad framework of a deal to combine, according to the people, and will use a 30-day window of exclusive talks to work out the details.
Shari Redstone looks like she remains firmly opposed to breaking up Paramount Global. Redstone, president of National Amusements Inc. — the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global — was “unconvinced” by Apollo Global Management’s $11 billion offer to buy Paramount’s film and TV studio, the Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources. Instead, per the FT report, Redstone is continuing to negotiate a deal with Skydance’s David Ellison, in partnership with RedBird Capital and Tencent, to sell NAI (and then merge Skydance with Paramount Global).
Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone has increased the seriousness of sale talks in recent months. Sector-related reasons, as well as personal and financial motivations, have added complexity to the deal-making process. Paramount Global’s carriage deal with Charter, set to expire in April, looms over potential sale discussions.
Shari Redstone’s investment banker, Byron David Trott, has pulled some unusual moves as he explores a possible sale of her Paramount media empire — and it’s adding to the gossip surrounding the closely watched deal talks.
CEO David Ellison (pictured), his father, Larry, and other investors are in talks to buy Shari Redstone’s stake in National Amusements, Paramount’s parent. (AP)
As Shari Redstone decides how to part with her empire, a number of players have emerged as suitors — all with varying, and conflicting, motivations to make a bid for the historic studio.
She fought to keep control of her family’s media empire. Now she’s considering an exit as financial pressures mount.
The Shari Redstone speculation and resulting renewed interest in deal talk could well have a domino effect and contribute to getting the media merger merry-go-round moving again in the new year.
Shari Redstone may have missed her window. Paramount Global’s controlling shareholder is open to a merger or selling the company at the right price, according to people familiar with her thinking. And she has been open to it for several years, said the people, who asked not to speak publicly because the discussions have been private. The problem has been finding the right deal for shareholders. Market conditions have made a transformative transaction difficult at best and highly unlikely at worst.
“We stand united against all acts of terror and hate,” Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish told employees amid the Israel-Hamas war via an internal memo.
Former CBS shareholders reached a proposed $167.5 million settlement to resolve allegations that Shari Redstone, the daughter of late media magnate Sumner Redstone, pressured the company into an unfair merger that created ViacomCBS Inc, now known as Paramount Global, according to a court filing.
CNBC spoke with 10 media executives who anonymously predicted one significant industry event for next year. Projections included Bob Iger returning as Disney CEO, Shari Redstone selling or merging ViacomCBS and Apple buying a movie studio. One executive predicted Roku will buy Lionsgate’s film and TV production studio.
Shari Redstone is hitting pause on any potential partnership talks between her media company ViacomCBS and NBC owner Comcast in hopes of lining up more suitors. The chairman of ViacomCBS has decided to hold off until next year before re-engaging in talks with Comcast’s Brian Roberts, according to two sources close to the situation.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts met with ViacomCBS Chairman Shari Redstone in recent weeks to discuss a potential streaming partnership for international markets, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign the media companies see opportunities to join forces. During the meeting, which was held around the end of June in New York, and which also included ViacomCBS CEO Robert Bakish, the executives discussed a variety of possible business partnerships that would allow the companies to enter non-U.S. markets together, the people said.
Media tongues are wagging about what potential streaming collaborations might be brewing in the wake of this week’s Allen & Co. conference for tech and media moguls. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who has been reportedly mulling a potential acquisition of media assets, met with ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone on Wednesday, according to an attendee with knowledge of the sitdown. The powwows between media bosses at the Sun Valley confab reached a new level of intensity this year, including meetings between bosses at Disney and Netflix as well as at Comcast and ViacomCBS, one source says.
A Delaware judge has allowed CBS stockholders to sue over the 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS, finding a reasonable claim that former CBS chief Joseph Ianniello “sold” his support for the deal to Shari Redstone in exchange for a $125 million payout.
The recombined firm, which bought a stake in Miramax and aims to offload publisher Simon & Schuster and its New York HQ Black Rock building, is expected to keep pursuing its streaming growth plans.
A Delaware judge on Monday ordered CBS Corp. to turn over records regarding its plan to reunite with Viacom to a shareholder who wants to investigate if the deal unfairly benefits Shari Redstone, who controls both companies.
Shari Redstone says the combination of Viacom and CBS, the companies that make up her family’s media empire, will create a content giant that can compete with larger industry rivals.
Shari Redstone has no plans to launch a conservative news channel to compete with Fox News, reps for the billionaire media heiress said. According to The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, Redstone, who serves as vice chairwoman of CBS and Viacom, has been quietly exploring a plan to launch a conservative news network on Viacom. “Viacom has no intention of launching a TV news channel, conservative or otherwise,” a Viacom rep said.
Shari Redstone, who has spoken with former Fox News star Megyn Kelly, may look to rebrand an existing Viacom linear channel to create a conservative-leaning news network.
CBS could announce its $15.4 billion plan to acquire Viacom as soon as Aug. 8 when it reports quarterly earnings. That move would give controlling shareholder Shari Redstone the ability to leverage key content like ‘Star Trek’ across numerous platforms and amp up its competition with companies like Netflix.
Belittled by Viacom and CBS executives, the heiress now sits atop a media empire. The possible merger of Viacom and CBS, once portrayed as the singular and unreasonable obsession of Shari Redstone, looks different in 2019. At this year’s upfronts, Redstone came to the CBS party for the first time in three years. This time, everyone wanted to take a photo with her.
Shari Redstone, the head of CBS’s parent company, didn’t take the stage during Wednesday’s upfront presentation, but at the party that followed she was met by a receiving line that included the incoming CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell, the CBS Sunday Morning anchor Jane Pauley and new CBS News President Susan Zirinsky. Last year at this time, then-CBS CEO Leslie Moonves was at war with Redstone over moves she’d made to bring about a merger between CBS and its sibling company, Viacom. This year, it was her party.
The CBS board has decided the company needs to get bigger, but merging with Viacom is not enough for Shari Redstone, who has voting control of both companies. If the CBS-Viacom deal gets done, Redstone’s National Amusements would like to move quickly with a second deal, the people said. Discovery Communications is interested in selling to CBS or a combined CBS-Viacom, according to two sources. Redstone is open to the idea, but would also consider buying other companies, including Sony Pictures and MGM.
There are risks for Shari Redstone as she moves swiftly to consolidate her power over CBS. A grand jury has demanded that lawyers for Sumner Redstone’s ex-flame, Manuela Herzer, turn over by Wednesday “any and all (non-privileged) materials” pertaining to the Redstone family.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors investigating possible tax-related financial crimes issued grand jury subpoenas for information regarding Manuela Herzer and the Redstone family — the latest stunning jolt to CBS, a company already reeling from the sudden departure of Les Moonves.
For nearly a year, Shari Redstone has been locked in a battle for control of CBS Corp. — facing off against a powerful chief executive and other members of the board. So tense was the standoff that CBS went to court to pry loose the Redstones’ grip on the company. Armistice arrived Sunday. In one dramatic swoop, CBS announced the departure of longtime CEO Leslie Moonves amid a widening sexual harassment scandal, installed an acting CEO and announced six new members to its board. Gone were the old-timers, friends of Sumner Redstone, who were some of Moonves’ strongest allies.
Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of CBS Corp., is quietly looking for a potential replacement for Leslie Moonves, the embattled chief executive of CBS, according to two people close to her.
National Amusements Inc. and CBS Corp. are fighting over the admissibility of a recent video of Sumner Redstone as part of the larger legal fight over control of CBS. The video purportedly supports CBS’ contention that CBS and Viacom chairman emeritus Sumner Redstone is no longer mentally competent and that his daughter, Shari Redstone, has been improperly calling the shots at his National Amusements holding company, which controls Viacom and CBS.
At a particularly tense moment at CBS, the company must now answer for the destruction of messages by senior executives. According to an emergency discovery motion filed by Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, CBS has admitted to spoiling certain evidence in the ongoing battle over control of the broadcast giant.
Leslie Moonves is open to merging CBS and Viacom — on his terms — but Shari Redstone, eager for power, may be ready to sacrifice Hollywood’s most celebrated exec to chart her own path.
As she seeks to combine CBS and Viacom into a single company again, media mogul Shari Redstone risks losing her most talented executive, whose leadership could be critical to ensuring the proposed merger succeeds. Her long-time friend and business ally, powerful CBS chief executive Les Moonves, has emerged as one of the biggest obstacles to a potential CBS-Viacom tie-up, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shari Redstone faces a delicate negotiation with CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, who wants to be at the helm of the united company.
Shari Redstone, a controlling shareholder of CBS, has discussed adding new directors to the CBS board as she renews her push to merge the company with Viacom.,
It has been one year since Shari Redstone, daughter of Sumner Redstone, prevailed in an epic battle for control of her father’s business empire. Since then, she has made some decisive moves, promoting Bob Bakish to CEO and bringing in Jim Gianopulos to revitalize her father’s beloved Paramount Pictures. But the stock price has not responded, and in fact has plunged another 30% since CEO Philippe Dauman’s departure on Aug. 20. As of Aug. 25, Viacom was trading below $30.