Paramount, the owner of MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures will open negotiations with a bidding group led by Sony Pictures Entertainment and private equity giant Apollo Global after its exclusivity period with Hollywood studio Skydance ended on Friday, according to a report by The New York Times.
The report cites three unnamed people familiar with the matter in revealing that a special committee of Paramount’s board of directors met on Saturday and agreed to open discussion with Sony and Apollo, which last week submitted a non-binding letter of interest offering to acquire the company in a $26bn cash deal.
According to the NYT’s sources, the committee also decided to pursue further discussions with Skydance.
While the proposed deal would see Sony acquire a controlling stake in Paramount and Apollo a minority holding, given current US government restrictions on foreign ownership of broadcast networks, the bidding group will likely push for US-based Apollo to hold the rights to the CBS broadcast license, according to two of the sources familiar with the acquisition strategy.
