Ariel Investments founder & co-CEO John Rogers says Paramount Global should consider other proposals before merging with David Ellison’s Skydance Media and that a deal with Apollo Global Management and Sony Group could be a much better outcome for investors. He joins Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde to discuss the ousting of Paramount CEO Bob Bakish and what the move means for the company going forward on “Bloomberg Technology.”
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@normanoro206
April 30, 2024 at 3:40 pm
This is a very interesting interview with John Rogers. He probably didn’t want to get too into the weeds regarding how a potential merger/acquisition would be consummated, but things really do seem to hinge on how voting versus non-voting shares in Paramount are distributed. Based on what I’ve read, of the total ~650 million shares outstanding, only approximately 6% are voting shares; and about 75% of these voting shares are owned by National Amusements, which is controlled by Shari Redstone. One way to structure a deal is to just purchase control via the voting shares, which would potentially enrich Shari Redstone immensely but upset those holding the remaining ~94% of non-voting shares. However, based on an analysis I’ve read, buying all the outstanding shares has its own problems, namely those holding voting shares would probably get less than what their shares are worth. And of course, there are all the other deal structures in between, which would reward holders of voting vs non-voting shares in varying degrees. I’m no expert in M&A, but this just seems tricky to structure. Bob Bakish stepping down and being replaced by a troika probably doesn’t help matters much. As for each offer’s merits, John Rogers’s point about potential synergies with Sony is a good one. For example, depending on the implementation, a number of popular Paramount films and shows could probably also flourish as video games. I’m not as familiar with Skydance’s proposal for Paramount, but it must have at least some merit as well (aside from it potentially enriching certain shareholders) considering how seriously Shari Redstone is reportedly taking it.
@duran9664
April 30, 2024 at 8:52 pm
🤢🤢🤮Paramount+ is the worst streaming app in history 🤢🤢🤮 So buggy & the picture quality for global live sport is scandalous 🤬😡
@duran9664
April 30, 2024 at 8:53 pm
UEFA should sue Paramount+ for their terrible performance in covering the Champions League 🤬