David Zaslav won’t be deleting films at Paramount Pictures as well as Warner Bros after all, it seems.
It seems increasingly likely that Paramount Pictures will have a new owner within the next year or two. Chairperson Shari Redstone, who effectively decides the company’s fate, is all but certain to be selling her interests. But who’s going to come in and acquire Paramount Global?
There’s no shortage of interest. Skydance Entertainment, a production company that’s been making movies for Paramount, is said to be interested. Then there’s Byron Allen, a rich man I’ll never meet, who has offered around $14bn. Others are also said to be circling.
One name to scrub off the list? Warner Bros Discovery, the company run by The Most Popular Man In Hollywood™, David Zaslav.
Read more: does anyone really want David Zaslav in charge of Paramount?
The serial-deleter of finished films had reportedly had a conversation about a possible deal with his Paramount. This would have potentially seen Warner Bros acquire the studio, presumably in much the same way that Disney swallowed up 20th Century Fox and laid off loads of staff. Fun times.
However, we now learn – courtesy of CNBC – that the deal won’t happen. The outlet reports that Warner Bros Discovery has gone – in CNBC’s words – “pencils down” on the idea of an acquisition. Several sources have apparently relayed the news that this particular deal isn’t happening, after months of Warner Bros looking into it.
Given that Warner Bros Discovery hasn’t been having the best of times anyway, it might just have been the wrong deal at the wrong time for the firm. Few seemed to think a union of the two companies was the perfect answer.
Who emerges as the frontrunner in the battle for Paramount remains to be seen. As always, there’s a bunch of people fearing for their jobs at the moment though. We’re going to train our thoughts on them for the time being.
