Bronfman Hints At Continuing Redstone Involvement

Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s offer for a controlling stake in Paramount Global could keep Shari Redstone close to the company, if his bid is successful.

CNBC reports Bronfman is open to having Redstone, currently non-executive chairman at Paramount, remain involved with the company if the Paramount special committee accepts his consortium’s bid for National Amusements, the controlling shareholder, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Bronfman has raised $6 billion to challenge Skydance Media for ownership of National Amusements, the holding company founded by Sumner Redstone, according to people familiar with the matter. Both Bronfman’s bid and Skydance’s bid would also include money to buy out a percentage of Paramount Global common shareholders.

It’s not clear if Redstone prefers one offer over the other. The Paramount Global special committee will determine if Bronfman’s offer is a superior proposal for shareholders by Aug. 28. If the committee decides Bronfman’s offer is better, Skydance will then have four business days to match. The deadline for the entire process to be concluded is Sept. 5.

Redstone

Bronfman still has a few more days to raise more money for a competing bid to counter Skydance, which agreed to an $8 billion deal to merge with Paramount Global last month. The special committee earlier this week extended the so-called “go-shop” period — during which it could entertain competing offers — by 15 days to review Bronfman’s initial bid.

One of the individuals who is part of Bronfman’s bid is former AOL CEO Jon Miller, suggesting Redstone could potentially have more control over a future Paramount Global than she’d get with Skydance. Miller, a close ally of Redstone, has been connecting Bronfman with potential capital and would likely take a role with the company if it came under Bronfman’s stewardship — perhaps a board seat and an operational job — according to people familiar with the matter. Bronfman would be CEO of the company if his deal were to be accepted and go through, said the people.

Skydance CEO David Ellison and Redstone also have had several discussions about the potential for Redstone to stay in as a shareholder of a combined Skydance-Paramount Global, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bronfman is the chairman of Fubo, a sports streaming service, and the former head of Universal and Warner Music.