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Paramount Global stock jumped after hours Thursday — (NASDAQ:PARA) +11.5%, (NASDAQ:PARAA) +6.4% — on a report that Sony Pictures Entertainment (SONY) has joined the fray over acquiring the venerable studio company.
Sony (SONY) has been talking with Apollo Global Management (APO) about a joint bid to acquire Paramount, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
That comes even as Paramount is still in a window of exclusive negotiations with Skydance Media over merging the two companies. Paramount has been moving forward with Skydance despite a $26B cash offer from Apollo, considered a superior offer by many shareholders.
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra has been talking with Apollo over the past week about a possible joint all-cash bid, the NYT reported.
While the terms are far from settled, one structure could have Apollo taking a minority stake in a JV with Sony becoming the majority owner and operator — and later Apollo could cash out, possibly by selling back to Sony, according to the report.
