It’s been a good week since my last update, and I thought I’d skim the various posts I’ve seen. A good place to start is Deadline’s piece, which suggests Skydance are not out of the picture leaving the Apollo / Sony deal in discussion.
At one point Variety suggested it would be no deal at all, with Paramount rejecting Sony again (they already turned down a previous offer). The Deadline piece suggests this is not the case.
What does a takeover mean?
The Deadline piece linked above is clear Sony wants the Paramount Studios, and would quickly move to sell other assets to fund the takeover. In consumer terms this means selling CBS, the linear channels like MTV and Paramount Plus streaming service. This would all need to pass regulator scrutiny both in the takeover and future sales (as far as I understand).
The Deadline piece calls out to the New York Times — Sony and Apollo’s Plan for Paramount: Break It Up. The article goes on to talk about retention of IP, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and SpongeBob SquarePants.
I’m fascinated to see where this is going, and will continue to track.
Symmetry Junction 