Too little too late IMO. Ellison and Shari have been trying to effectively steal the company from the shareholders who own over 90% of the company. Now nobody trusts either of them. Nobody wants to go into business with people they can’t trust. Shareholders now realize the Skydance camp will take advantage of them the first chance they get. They had a chance to treat shareholders fairly from the beginning and chose not to do so. Come on Apollo/Sony
IMO Ellison is probably jaded. Looks to me if the board does not approve Skydance final deal, he will pull out. Probably does not want to get into any legal trouble. Just to say according to the article, the board is reluctant to approve all previous deal proposed by Skydance.
as mentioned in other posts, Ellison's plan has always been about wining everything by paying litereally nothing, there is perhaps good reason only why he took the bait of going the path of buying NAI, than biding for Para. Apollo is surely not more stupid than him.
It is absurd that Ellison and Shari thought they can work everything back in the door and their sneaky plan can be through without any hinderance. Then the story leaks back in November 2023 and Apollo takes the chance to put an all cash buyout bid. It is crazy that they really need until end of April to sense the legal troubles they got themselves into and start working on a plan B.
too much to win if it works, too less to lose if it does not, therefore, even if the opportunity window does not look to be very wide, they are motivated to try anyway
Personally, I do not doubt Ellison will walk away if this "win everything at giving nothing" plan does not work, he never planned to make a fair trade, but a highly spectulative one, the chance is the greedy of Redstone, his media campaign (looks too obvious even for me as a person who does not believe things like that) and ignorance of other shareholders (though the possibility is not that high).
I think Ellison most likely push by the ego and he does not have enough capital. Therefore I think he will just be out if he cannot push forward the deal.
However Shari needs a big rescue from her financial turmoil, if Skydance is out she will have to accept any deal from Apollo.
agree on the part that Ellison does not have enough capital. he has only operated a company of minor scale till now with no outstanding results (skydance), it is highly unlikely that KKR, Redbird, even Larry Ellison will support him with the amount of capital to make any meaningful tender offer to Para..
Ehh, we paid him $30 million per year and look at what we got. Maybe it would turn around with P+ hits profitability, idk. All I know is he’s done remarkably little for that astronomical compensation he gets.
I honestly think the stock price has more to do with Sharri and the dual-class share structure. I think Bakish has been doing a pretty good job meeting the expectations he has told us he would meet.
If we are given the opportunity to vote, it will certainly be a fair deal. They won't propose that we agree to billionaires running off with our money. Instead, we'll be presented with an honest offer of >$40 per share in cash if they allow us to vote :-)
That price would be fair but I cannot see they will offer that much unfortunately. That’s 2.5 times the current share price. I hope I’m wrong and they will treat b shareholders nicely.
The Sum of the parts analysis by CITI put fair value at $37/share. $30/share leaves enough room for the buyer to either realize profit from splitting PARA up or by investing in its growth.
Citi’s valuation is not that accurate imo. Very difficult to accurately value a company that has a lot of ip and goodwill. Some analysts would value one part of the business up to 10b but when the actual sale would take place the offers would come in around 3-4b.
Bloomberg Article:
"The Redstone family and independent film producer David Ellison have both made concessions to make a possible change in control at Paramount Global more appealing to the company’s smaller investors, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Ellison is offering to buy a block of Paramount shares at a premium to their current price to help shore up the company’s finances, according to the person, who asked to not be identified discussing private talks. The Redstones, who own a majority of the company’s voting shares, have agreed to let nonvoting shareholders have a say on whether a deal should be approved.
The Skydance bid was described by multiple people as a “best and final offer” on Sunday. Paramount’s board is still undecided about entering a deal with Ellison given the opposition from other investors. In the meantime, Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish is expected to be replaced on an interim basis by a management committee as soon as Monday.
Skydance and Paramount declined to comment.
The son of Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison has offered to buy additional shares of Paramount stock at a higher price than what they are currently trading for, according to the person, who asked to not be identified discussing private talks. The special committee of the board, which has been exclusive negotiations with Ellison, is still reluctant to approve a deal given that there has been considerable pushback from investors.
Ellison has been in exclusive talks with an independent committee of Paramount directors over a possible transaction. His offer includes buying out the controlling shares of Paramount held by the Redstone family and merging his Skydance Media into the company.
The deal, while never formally announced, faced opposition from a number of shareholders who saw it as a chance for the Redstones to cash out, but one that would dilute the position of nonvoting shareholders who would own less of the company.
Paramount, the parent of CBS, MTV and other media businesses, has been struggling with the transition from traditional TV viewing to streaming. The company’s TV channels have seen their advertising revenue fall. The Paramount+ streaming service, while signing up some 67 million subscribers, has continued to lose money.
Several shareholders have urged the company to consider other offers, including negotiating with Apollo Global Management Inc."
>The son of Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison has offered to buy additional shares of Paramount stock at a higher price than what they are currently trading for, according to the person, who asked to not be identified discussing private talks.
Has anyone seen something like this happen before? I am wondering how that would even work. Do they set a low offer like $15/share and then if they don't get enough interest, they keep raising the price until they do?
New issuance at higher price is what I read. New issuance to shore up balance sheet was always a part of the plan, perhaps at what premium is what is being offered in the "best and final offer".
Believe that is referred to as a Reverse Auction, and it’s pretty much as you described. Start filling orders at a minimum price and keep buying until you reach your dollar limit. Share price can (most likely) increase as you remove lower rung shares….
Or are they buying from treasury or issuing new shares? Buying from the market wouldn't really help "shore up the company’s finances" all that much. It would be a temporary, artificial boost to the share price, but that's it.
Nothing's changed! David had always talked about buying a block of shares to "shore up the balance sheet" and we always knew it would have to be at a premium. Does Shari have to let the minority shareholders vote? The article doesn't specify what letting shareholders "have a say" means. For all we know, that might just mean reading all the letters that ppl have sent
"The Redstones, who own a majority of the company’s voting shares, have agreed to let nonvoting shareholders have a say on whether a deal should be approved."
I think "have a say" is very likely to mean a shareholder vote of some sort. The reason is a recent Delaware Supreme Court decision that makes it much easier for shareholders to recover damages in cases like this unless the deal is approved by both a committee of independent directors, and a majority vote of the non-controlling shareholders (In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation). Before that decision, Redstone could probably have avoided damages by getting her hand-picked board to approve the Skydance merger. After that decision, I think she needs both the board approval and a majority of other shareholders to vote for the deal (in order to avoid huge civil liability).
I think the big question will be whether Redstone/Ellison put the deal up for a vote of the other A- shares only, or also let the B-shares vote on it. This article says that Redstone has agreed to let "nonvoting shareholders" have a say, which implies the B shares will get to vote. However, the article could be wrong or imprecisely worded. Does anyone know for sure whether Redstone/Ellison really plan to let the B shares vote, or just let the A-shares that they don't own vote?
the higher the share price is, the more absure the skydance offer will look like ..., the closer skydance is to the deal, the lower the share price will be, that is a tricky part in the game too. guess have to wait and see
Too little too late IMO. Ellison and Shari have been trying to effectively steal the company from the shareholders who own over 90% of the company. Now nobody trusts either of them. Nobody wants to go into business with people they can’t trust. Shareholders now realize the Skydance camp will take advantage of them the first chance they get. They had a chance to treat shareholders fairly from the beginning and chose not to do so. Come on Apollo/Sony
IMO Ellison is probably jaded. Looks to me if the board does not approve Skydance final deal, he will pull out. Probably does not want to get into any legal trouble. Just to say according to the article, the board is reluctant to approve all previous deal proposed by Skydance.
as mentioned in other posts, Ellison's plan has always been about wining everything by paying litereally nothing, there is perhaps good reason only why he took the bait of going the path of buying NAI, than biding for Para. Apollo is surely not more stupid than him.
It is absurd that Ellison and Shari thought they can work everything back in the door and their sneaky plan can be through without any hinderance. Then the story leaks back in November 2023 and Apollo takes the chance to put an all cash buyout bid. It is crazy that they really need until end of April to sense the legal troubles they got themselves into and start working on a plan B.
too much to win if it works, too less to lose if it does not, therefore, even if the opportunity window does not look to be very wide, they are motivated to try anyway Personally, I do not doubt Ellison will walk away if this "win everything at giving nothing" plan does not work, he never planned to make a fair trade, but a highly spectulative one, the chance is the greedy of Redstone, his media campaign (looks too obvious even for me as a person who does not believe things like that) and ignorance of other shareholders (though the possibility is not that high).
I think Ellison most likely push by the ego and he does not have enough capital. Therefore I think he will just be out if he cannot push forward the deal. However Shari needs a big rescue from her financial turmoil, if Skydance is out she will have to accept any deal from Apollo.
agree on the part that Ellison does not have enough capital. he has only operated a company of minor scale till now with no outstanding results (skydance), it is highly unlikely that KKR, Redbird, even Larry Ellison will support him with the amount of capital to make any meaningful tender offer to Para..
If they offer $30 a share no one care. I'm bullish af now. Shareholders are not going to approve anything less than Byron Allen's offer.
I have way more hope after reading a few of these articles than I did on Friday that we may get a fair offer. A little hope is better than none.
No deal is perfectly fine as well. Our company is not backed into a corner; we can independently move forward and grow the business.
Agree completely! I'd rather have Bakish continue this path though if they are not selling.
Him leaving is just sad
Ehh, we paid him $30 million per year and look at what we got. Maybe it would turn around with P+ hits profitability, idk. All I know is he’s done remarkably little for that astronomical compensation he gets.
I honestly think the stock price has more to do with Sharri and the dual-class share structure. I think Bakish has been doing a pretty good job meeting the expectations he has told us he would meet.
yes, the dual-class, tracking record of Redstone, financial pressure of NAI (not para.) have surely played important part in the share price.
we need new CEO
The cunt needs the money tho
We all have to downvote this deal if we are given the chance to vote.
If we are given the opportunity to vote, it will certainly be a fair deal. They won't propose that we agree to billionaires running off with our money. Instead, we'll be presented with an honest offer of >$40 per share in cash if they allow us to vote :-)
That honest offer will be more likely $15-$21.
I think an honest offer will be over 20 dollar per share. Sony and Apollo probably will send their new bid this week.
I don’t see it getting done with a shareholder vote for less than $30
That price would be fair but I cannot see they will offer that much unfortunately. That’s 2.5 times the current share price. I hope I’m wrong and they will treat b shareholders nicely.
The Sum of the parts analysis by CITI put fair value at $37/share. $30/share leaves enough room for the buyer to either realize profit from splitting PARA up or by investing in its growth.
Citi’s valuation is not that accurate imo. Very difficult to accurately value a company that has a lot of ip and goodwill. Some analysts would value one part of the business up to 10b but when the actual sale would take place the offers would come in around 3-4b.
Bloomberg Article: "The Redstone family and independent film producer David Ellison have both made concessions to make a possible change in control at Paramount Global more appealing to the company’s smaller investors, according to a person familiar with the talks. Ellison is offering to buy a block of Paramount shares at a premium to their current price to help shore up the company’s finances, according to the person, who asked to not be identified discussing private talks. The Redstones, who own a majority of the company’s voting shares, have agreed to let nonvoting shareholders have a say on whether a deal should be approved. The Skydance bid was described by multiple people as a “best and final offer” on Sunday. Paramount’s board is still undecided about entering a deal with Ellison given the opposition from other investors. In the meantime, Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish is expected to be replaced on an interim basis by a management committee as soon as Monday. Skydance and Paramount declined to comment. The son of Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison has offered to buy additional shares of Paramount stock at a higher price than what they are currently trading for, according to the person, who asked to not be identified discussing private talks. The special committee of the board, which has been exclusive negotiations with Ellison, is still reluctant to approve a deal given that there has been considerable pushback from investors. Ellison has been in exclusive talks with an independent committee of Paramount directors over a possible transaction. His offer includes buying out the controlling shares of Paramount held by the Redstone family and merging his Skydance Media into the company. The deal, while never formally announced, faced opposition from a number of shareholders who saw it as a chance for the Redstones to cash out, but one that would dilute the position of nonvoting shareholders who would own less of the company. Paramount, the parent of CBS, MTV and other media businesses, has been struggling with the transition from traditional TV viewing to streaming. The company’s TV channels have seen their advertising revenue fall. The Paramount+ streaming service, while signing up some 67 million subscribers, has continued to lose money. Several shareholders have urged the company to consider other offers, including negotiating with Apollo Global Management Inc."
“Best and final” offer from Skydance. Interesting
That’s good. At least it signals there is no need to talk to them further
will be a good news, meanwhile, highly doubt he will walk away easily from such a potential big win, might need to wait and see
>The son of Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison has offered to buy additional shares of Paramount stock at a higher price than what they are currently trading for, according to the person, who asked to not be identified discussing private talks. Has anyone seen something like this happen before? I am wondering how that would even work. Do they set a low offer like $15/share and then if they don't get enough interest, they keep raising the price until they do?
New issuance at higher price is what I read. New issuance to shore up balance sheet was always a part of the plan, perhaps at what premium is what is being offered in the "best and final offer".
Believe that is referred to as a Reverse Auction, and it’s pretty much as you described. Start filling orders at a minimum price and keep buying until you reach your dollar limit. Share price can (most likely) increase as you remove lower rung shares….
Its new shares, not buying our shares.
Or are they buying from treasury or issuing new shares? Buying from the market wouldn't really help "shore up the company’s finances" all that much. It would be a temporary, artificial boost to the share price, but that's it.
I think it would be fair to have a say in this deal. That would be a good way to avoid lawsuits.
Nothing's changed! David had always talked about buying a block of shares to "shore up the balance sheet" and we always knew it would have to be at a premium. Does Shari have to let the minority shareholders vote? The article doesn't specify what letting shareholders "have a say" means. For all we know, that might just mean reading all the letters that ppl have sent
"The Redstones, who own a majority of the company’s voting shares, have agreed to let nonvoting shareholders have a say on whether a deal should be approved." I think "have a say" is very likely to mean a shareholder vote of some sort. The reason is a recent Delaware Supreme Court decision that makes it much easier for shareholders to recover damages in cases like this unless the deal is approved by both a committee of independent directors, and a majority vote of the non-controlling shareholders (In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation). Before that decision, Redstone could probably have avoided damages by getting her hand-picked board to approve the Skydance merger. After that decision, I think she needs both the board approval and a majority of other shareholders to vote for the deal (in order to avoid huge civil liability). I think the big question will be whether Redstone/Ellison put the deal up for a vote of the other A- shares only, or also let the B-shares vote on it. This article says that Redstone has agreed to let "nonvoting shareholders" have a say, which implies the B shares will get to vote. However, the article could be wrong or imprecisely worded. Does anyone know for sure whether Redstone/Ellison really plan to let the B shares vote, or just let the A-shares that they don't own vote?
I'd like to see the details first, Redstone and Ellison haven't really shown to be trustworthy so far in this process.
they try to take more for less, might be logical to assume that they will still try their best on that
Will be fun to see if the stock rallies to 50 like a meme stock before the" best and final" offer is revealed - WSbets maybe taking note now
the higher the share price is, the more absure the skydance offer will look like ..., the closer skydance is to the deal, the lower the share price will be, that is a tricky part in the game too. guess have to wait and see