Edgar Bronfman Jr. has sweetened his offer for Shari Redstone’s media empire, a move that could scuttle her deal to sell to David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
Bronfman has submitted a revised bid of $6 billion for National Amusements and a minority stake in Paramount according to The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter. He formally entered the fray on Monday night with a $4.3 billion offer.
Bronfman’s new bid includes $1.7 billion for a tender offer that would give non-Redstone, nonvoting Paramount shareholders an option to cash out at a premium of $16 a share, the people said. In his initial bid, Bronfman didn’t offer Paramount’s Class B shareholders that option to cash out.
Ellison’s roughly $8 billion offer involves buying National Amusements and merging Skydance into Paramount. The deal would put $1.5 billion on Paramount’s balance sheet that can be used to pay down debt. Additionally, it would provide more than $4 billion to buy out about 50% of nonvoting Paramount shares at $15 each, or allow them to roll into the new company.
Skydance’s deal would allow it to buy more shares from those nonvoting stockholders than Bronfman’s revised bid.
Bronfman’s fresh proposal opens a new round of tug of war for National Amusements and Paramount, the storied company home to the renowned movie studio, MTV, Comedy Central and CBS. Redstone has spent months fielding interest from suitors, and her deal with Ellison has moved in fits and starts, at one point nearing a collapse.
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