- There has been a whirlwind of information surrounding the potential M&A of both PARA and the Redstone family holding company, National Amusements.
- It has become clearer with recent developments, that National Amusements likely needs to restructure its debt.
- A merger with WBD seems unlikely as it doesn’t solve any of Redstone’s problems at the National Amusements level and is a questionable sell to shareholders and management.
- Apollo or Skydance taking control at the National Amusements level could force a rerating of PARA shares if the offers represent a premium over the current market price of PARA.
Introduction
I recently covered Paramount Global (PARA, PARAA) in the beginning of December, speculating that Apple Inc. (AAPL) might be interested in acquiring the company, after a press release that the companies are interested in bundling their streaming services. Since then, the press has offered a whirlwind of potential M&A options for both Paramount and National Amusements (abbreviated NAI), the Redstone family holding company with a controlling interest in PARA. It has most recently been reported that NAI is conducting a formal bidding process, and Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO) may be an interested party in addition to Skydance for taking control at the NAI level. This is after it was reported that Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.’s (WBD) CEO, David Zaslav, held a meeting with Bob Bakish to discuss a potential merger. I wanted to dive into these options and assess what they would mean for shareholders.
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