Sony and Apollo offer $26bn for Paramount

Business Insider’s Hayley Cuccinello recently reported that the Skydance consortium, including fellow Skydance investor KKR, submitted a revised offer on Sunday. Paramount would merge with Skydance and stay public, while Apollo’s offer would likely take the entertainment giant private. Skydance’s newest bid includes a $3 billion cash injection, most of which would go toward paying off shareholders, two sources close to the negotiation told Business Insider.

There are questions as to whether Paramount would stay whole under Apollo and Sony. Apollo previously bid $11 billion for just Paramount’s movie studio, the Wall Street Journal reported in March. Paramount would have been left with its lower-performing cable channels and struggling streaming service, and the bid went nowhere.

Apollo partner Aaron Sobel co-signed the offer letter with Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra, people familiar with the situation told the Journal. Sobel, 37, rose quickly at the firm and has executed media deals at Apollo with partner Lee Solomon. They co-led the $760 million purchase of a minority stake in Legendary Entertainment, the studio behind “Dune,” in 2022. Last October, they helped Concord Music Group, a royalties giant, raise $500 million in bond sales to buy the copyright holder of Beatles songs.