Following rumblings that Sony Pictures Entertainment plans to make an acquisition offer for media giant Paramount, The Wall Street Journal reports that the company has already submitted a cash offer in partnership with investment firm Apollo. The New York Times has also corrborated WSJ’s report.
Sony and Apollo made $26 billion cash offer for Paramount acquisition
According to both the WSJ and NYT, Sony and Apollo have made an all-cash offer of a whopping $26 billion to acquire Paramount. If accepted, Sony will become the majority owner while Apollo will hold a minority stake in the company.
Paramount is currently in exclusive talks with Skydance Media for an acquisiton, but the exclusivity period is set to expire soon. As previously reported, there has been pushback internally at Paramount against a potential merger with Skydance. However, just when it seemed that the door was left open for Sony, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish — the biggest opponent of the Skydance deal — stepped down earlier this week.
None of this stopped Sony and Apollo from submitting a “nonbinding expression of interest,” though.
For the gamer audience, Paramount currently owns the Sonic movie franchise, Knuckles TV show, and Halo TV series, among numerous other prestigious properties.