Report: Sony cooling on bid for Paramount
MAY 15, 2024 11.17 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER

The combined Sony and Apollo Global Management bid for Paramount Global appears to be fading.

CNBC reported Tuesday that the bidders were rethinking their bid.

“There has not been an NDA signed by Sony at this point, a nondisclosure agreement that you would typically sign so you can begin real due diligence, and beyond that was a fallen Sony parent’s stock price last week that we can show you as well that may have given them some pause, not to mention, of course, what is there’s the continued deterioration of the environment we know so well, namely the cable ecosystem, all of which has led to what I am told is at least quote “a rethinking” of the Paramount bid,” said David Faber on CNBC’s Power Lunch.

The disclosure sent shares in the US media company down 7%.

Apollo and Sony submitted their offer on May 1 in the form of a non-binding letter of interest.

Paramount’s other publicly known suitor, David Ellison’s Skydance, entered into exclusive negotiations with Paramount. While the exclusivity is now at an end, Ellison has continued to work with investment firms RedBird Capital and KKR in the takeover of National Amusements, the Redstone family holding company, controlled by Shari Redstone.