National Amusements President Shari Redstone speaks at the WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California on October 21, 2019.
Mike Blake | Reuters
David Ellison’s Skydance has reached a preliminary agreement to merge with Shari Redstone’s National Amusements. ParamountThe deal has been revived after falling apart several weeks ago, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Controlling shareholder National Amusements has referred the deal to Paramount’s special committee, which is currently reviewing and voting on the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Paramount spokesman declined to comment.
Paramount shares rose as much as 9% on the news.
The revived deal would reduce Redstone’s compensation to $1.75 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Other financial terms of the deal previously reported by CNBC would remain unchanged, with Skydance acquiring roughly half of Paramount’s controlling stake at $15 a share for $4.5 billion and contributing $1.5 billion to Paramount’s balance sheet.
Mr. Redstone withdrew from the bid in June as the first bid neared the finish line, one of the people said, in part because he felt that Skydance had renegotiated the deal by asking for a bid hundreds of millions of dollars less than previously agreed upon.
The final stages of the acquisition process leave the company with three CEOs running it, following the departure of CEO Bob Bakish earlier this year. Other interested bidders include private equity firms Apollo and Sonyas well as a recent plea from media conglomerate chairman Barry Diller. International Exchange Association He is also a former Paramount executive.
The tentative agreement was first reported by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
—CNBC’s Julia Boorstin contributed to this report.
