Edgar Bronfman Jr. plans to shake up Paramount’s streaming strategy by teaming up with a tech giant like Amazon or Apple, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
Bronfman, the former CEO of Warner Music Group, made an eleventh-hour bid just before Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media was set to close last week.
The media veteran thinks Paramount needs a tech partner to succeed in streaming. Despite 68 million subscribers, Paramount+ lags behind its competitors, such as Netflix, which reported over 277 million subscribers in June, per Reuters.
Paramount also faced financial struggles after seeing a revenue dip of 17% last quarter. Bronfman sees a tech collaboration as vital to improving audience growth, revenue generation, and brand licensing, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.
Bronfman’s surprise $6 billion bid disrupted Paramount’s imminent merger with Skydance Media, which was set to be completed in days.
His bid includes buying the Redstone family’s holding company, National Amusements Inc., which controls most of Paramount’s voting stock, and he aims to secure more shares of Paramount.
The bid came just before the 45-day “go-shop” period expired — a window that allowed Paramount to explore other offers even after announcing its merger with Skydance.
The move has led Paramount’s special committee to extend its window to consider other offers by 15 days, CNBC reported Wednesday.
Skydance offered to inject over $8 billion into Paramount, but Bronfman’s counteroffer includes a tender offer giving non-voting shareholders an option to receive $16 per share, CNBC reported.
If Bronfman’s bid is successful, he would take over as CEO of Paramount, while retaining current employees. Bronfman would also bring in veteran executives Jon Miller and John Martin for key roles in the company, Bloomberg reported.
Skydance’s proposal includes acquiring all of Redstone’s shares, reducing Paramount’s debt by $1.5 billion, and merging both companies — a strategy Bronfman argued might diminish the value for other shareholders, Bloomberg reported.
Paramount’s board has until Wednesday to weigh Skydance’s and Bronfman’s proposals. Both bidders will have until September 5 to revise their offers.
Bronfman did not respond to a request for comment by Business Insider sent outside standard business hours.
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