Media mogul Shari Redstone is in talks to sell a majority stake in National Amusements, the parent company of the growing news and entertainment empire that includes the Paramount movie studio, CBS and MTV, according to three people familiar with the talks.
In recent weeks, National Amusements has held talks with Skydance, the media and entertainment company founded by David Ellison, son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison. It is unclear whether a deal will be reached and the value the talks place on Redstone’s stake could not be determined.
A deal for Paramount, if it comes to fruition, could be the starting gun for a far-reaching shakeup of the media industry over the next year. Comcast, the TV and cable giant that owns NBCUniversal, is on the prowl for deals. Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of HBO and CNN, does indeed go on the market next year for mysterious tax reasons.
Redstone, 69, who fought a bitter battle with his former allies to retain control of the company, now appears to be seriously considering giving it up. She has held out for years amid broader headwinds facing the traditional media industry, but she is exploring her options now that a serious suitor has expressed interest, two of the people said. Redstone’s holdings face some economic pressures, including long-term debt obligations and the unreliable advertising market for media companies like Paramount.
Disk previously reported that Ms. Redstone and Skydance were in talks. Spokespeople for National Amusements, Ms. Redstone and Skydance declined to comment.
A deal for Redstone’s stake in National Amusements would represent a major changing of the guard in the media business. Paramount has been in the Redstone family for decades, ever since Redstone’s father, bellicose dealmaker Sumner Redstone, won the company in a hard-fought bidding war that attracted heavyweights including billionaire Barry Diller.
Paramount, with its suite of cable channels, a movie studio and its CBS broadcast network, has long been considered an acquisition target. Redstone began holding talks about a deal earlier this year with parties including technology firms such as Amazon, Apple and Netflix, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The feverish deals that seem poised to devastate the industry have been triggered in part by the slow decline of television. For years, television companies like Paramount were boosted by ever-increasing payouts from cable distributors. But in recent years, the cable TV business model has begun to collapse as consumers abandoned their cable subscriptions and switched to streaming services like Netflix, leaving traditional TV programmers looking for a way out.
Even streaming, once considered a savior of the media business, has begun to show signs of strain. Old-school TV companies like Paramount, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery are investing billions of dollars in creating streaming services in a bid to catch up with Netflix, but so far none have managed to replicate TV profits. by cable.
Ms. Redstone is being advised by BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank founded by Byron Trott, a former Goldman Sachs partner who advises some of America’s richest and best-connected family business owners. Earlier this year, BDT & MSD Partners said it was acquiring a $125 million stake in National Amusements that would help the parent company pay off its credit obligations.
Ms. Redstone owns a majority stake in National Amusements. In a February presentation, Paramount saying that National Amusements owned directly or indirectly about 77.4 percent of Paramount’s Class A voting common stock.
Founded in 2010 by David Ellison, Skydance has become one of the leading independent studios in Hollywood. It has a long-standing relationship with Paramount, producing hits like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”
Skydance is backed by RedBird Capital Partners, a private equity firm that is among the most active in the media industry. RedBird is also backing RedBird IMI, the company led by former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, which is seeking a deal for British newspapers The Telegraph and The Spectator.
Resigning from Paramount would be a momentous step for Redstone, who struggled to maintain control of his family as his father’s mental capacity began to decline. In 2018, CBS, led at the time by Les Moonves, sued Redstone to strip it of control of its media outlet, but Redstone ultimately prevailed. Moonves, who faced a series of sexual harassment allegations, was ousted from CBS in 2018. He has denied allegations of non-consensual sexual relations.
Although Paramount’s value has steadily declined in recent years, matching the fortunes of traditional media, investor speculation about a deal for National Amusements caused the company’s stock to soar this month. Although its flagship streaming service, Paramount+, continues to lose money, Paramount said earlier this year that it had reduced its losses for the service while continuing to add subscribers.
Rachel Abrams contributed reports.