Network 10 owners Paramount Global, have walked away from Skydance Media without reaching a deal, as Warren Buffett admits that he has sold down his shareholding in the business that also owns streaming service Paramount +
The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO says that his company has exited its position in Paramount having lost a lot on money.
Berkshire surprised Wall Street when it disclosed a $2.6 billion stake in Paramount in May 2022.
Later that year, it added even more shares, ultimately becoming the largest shareholder in the company (or at least its non-voting shares, with Shari Redstone and the Redstone family’s National Amusements controlling a majority of its voting shares).
Over the weekend, a special committee of Paramount’s board, which was established to evaluate the media company’s options, and who spent months negotiating with Skydance and its partners, Redbird Capital and KKR decided to walk away from the deal.
Several shareholders were critical of the deal and urged the board to conduct a more thorough review of the alternatives.
Locally the Paramount Global owned Network Ten is facing millions of dollars worth of costs to cover its legal bills in its defamation battle against Bruce Lehrmann according to their latest financial filings.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents reveal Ten revenues fell to $675 million as of December 31, 2022, from $695.8 million in 2021.
Its profit fell 87 per cent to $42.2 million from $324.3 million.
Now Sony Pictures Entertainment and private equity firm Apollo Global Management are waiting for response to their $26 billion bid to buy the entertainment giant, according to sources.
Shares in the media giant rose 3% in extended trading.
SPE would hold a majority stake in the venture, a source previously told Reuters, and operate Paramount, whose movie library spans “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible” and Indiana Jones, alongside TV characters like SpongeBob SquarePants.
Shari Redstone’s media empire replaced its CEO Bob Bakish with a trio of executives last week, while four independent members of the Paramount board are set to step down at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on June 4.
Bloomberg News has reported that Redstone, who owns a majority of Paramount’s voting shares, and Ellison have made concessions to make the deal more appealing to shareholders.
The owner of Network 10 has been struggling to recover from last year’s months-long strikes by Hollywood writers and actors, a soft advertising market and eroded profit for its TV business in several markets including Australia.
