Yet another huge studio acquisition could be on the horizon, according to reports, with Paramount Pictures possibly up for purchase by Skydance.
Let’s play the game of Capitalism, my friends.
You have to go back many decades to the end of Hollywood’s studio system to find the point when these companies were owned by singular moguls – that was before the 1948 Paramount Decree and the subsequent dismantling of studio power which eventually led to these companies losing prominence before being swallowed whole by bigger corporations.
Of course, there’s always a bigger corporation, and we’re living through a moment of intense corporate consolidation where bigger companies keep eating smaller ones, seemingly just for breakfast.
Disney swallowed Fox almost whole back in 2019, Warner Bros merged with Discovery in 2021 and is said to be in serious cost-cutting mode to make it an attractive proposition for acquisition.
And then there’s Paramount Global.
It’s an open secret that Paramount Global is looking to be bought up, with the company having recently divested itself of smaller chunks such as the MMA league, Bellator and its publishing arm, Simon and Schuster, all the better to streamline itself for a takeover.
According to Deadline however, the most serious suitor is David Ellison’s Skydance, a production partner of Paramount’s on films such as Terminator: Dark Fate and Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1.
According to the outlet, Skydance Entertainment isn’t looking to buy the company outright but rather take control of it via purchasing a controlling stake in National Amusements, as the theatrical distribution company owns 77% of Paramount Global’s shares.
Once a controlling stake has been established, Skydance could then seek to influence the future of Paramount Global, which we imagine means getting rid of the bits Elliison and his partners might not want such as the declining cable TV networks, while keeping the bits that they do: Paramount’s film studio and all of the valuable rights it holds.
Of course, nobody is going on the record to say anything, but it’s looking increasingly likely that a deal may be made. We’ll let you know more as we hear it.
