Media mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr has submitted a bid of $4.3 billion to acquire Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc, which is the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global.
That’s despite the company already entering a binding agreement worth more than $8 billion with Skydance Media for both National Amusements and Paramount Global.
It’s believed Bronfman has submitted his bid to Paramount’s special committee which has been set up to evaluate any offers for the company. The committee is expected to review the latest bid on Wednesday.
According to reports, the bid from Bronfman includes $2.4 billion for National Amusements; an investment of $1.5 billion to pay down Paramount’s debt; and $400 million for the fee Paramount would be forced to pay to the Skydance group if it decides to go with the new offer.
Rumours of a Bronfman bid first surfaced in June when Redstone pulled out of an original deal with Skydance to sell National Amusements. The two parties returned to the negotiating table in July when Redstone accepted a new offer.
Rumours of Paramount sale first began in April when Sony looked to muscle in on the company’s talks with Skydance. That then led to the ousting of CEO Bob Bakish after he reportedly opposed a deal with Skydance.
