Edgar Bronfman reportedly increases his offer to take over Paramount Global as ‘Go Shop’ run is extended

Veteran media executive Edgar Bronfman has reportedly increased his offer to acquire Paramount Global to $6 billion. The bid includes the purchase of National Amusements, the company’s majority shareholder, as well as a minority stake in Paramount itself.

According to Reuters, this represents an increase from his previous proposal of $4.3 billion.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on Bronfman’s improved offer.

Paramount confirmed on Wednesday that it had received a takeover offer from Bronfman, the representative of a consortium of investors, but declined to disclose details of the offer.

Bronfman’s offer poses a major challenge to an already planned acquisition deal with David Ellison’s Skydance Media.

Bronfman’s latest offer includes $3.2 billion that could be used to pay off Paramount’s debt or to buy non-voting shares from investors outside the Redstone family. The offer amounts to $16 per share in cash. The allocation of these funds would be decided by both the board and the investor group led by Bronfman, the Reuters report said.

In comparison, Skydance’s $8.4 billion offer to acquire Paramount calls for a two-stage transaction in which Paramount will buy Ellison’s independent media company in an all-stock deal.

Ellison, along with Redbird Capital Partners, has committed $4.3 billion to purchase Paramount Class B stock at $15 per share and has committed at least $1.5 billion to support the company’s financial stability.

Bronfman offset the debt and equity terms of the $2.4 billion Skydance deal in his takeover offer, which was presented to Paramount Special Committee Chairman Charles Phillips on Monday.

National Amusements, which holds the Redstone family’s majority stake in Paramount, would play a central role in the deal.

In a letter accompanying the offer, Bronfman said his offer was better because it avoided the complexities and potential costs of a Paramount-Skydance merger. His offer also includes provisions to cover a $400 million severance payment that Skydance would be entitled to if his offer were successful.

Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed Partners, said in a report Tuesday that several board members could support Bronfman’s offer because it would avoid dilution related to the Skydance deal.

Bronfman’s investor group includes Fortress Investment Group and Jeff Ubben, founder and managing partner of Inclusive Capital Partners.

However, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce and Kazakh investor Nurali Aliyev, who was previously part of the Bronfman Group, were reportedly missing from the revised investor list presented to Paramount’s board.

Due to ongoing negotiations, Paramount has extended the “go-shop” deadline, which was originally scheduled to end on Wednesday, to September 5, giving Bronfman’s consortium more time to complete its offer.

It is expected that the group led by Ellison will also have the opportunity to counter this offer.