THURSDAY UPDATE: Skydance threatens to pull out of deal
Skydance is making it clear they are not happy Paramount has extended their deal deadline to consider the last-minute bid from the consortium led by Edgar J. Bronfman Jr. They have made their feelings clear in a letter sent by their lawyers to the Paramount board. The Wall Street Journal reports that Skydance is accusing Paramount’s board of directors of breaching several terms of their agreement, including the failure to disclose that they were triggering the “go-shop” provision of the Transaction Agreement. Skydance also questions the circumstances by which the provision was triggered, saying that it should only occur if the Bronfman offer “would reasonably be expected to lead to a superior proposal,” to that of Skydance, which they claim it does not. They also question the Bronfman group’s financing, calling it “highly contingent and uncertain.” Skydance also indicates that it reserves the right to terminate the Transaction Agreement altogether. There is no response yet from Paramount or Bronfman.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Last month, the drawn out Paramount Global corporate drama seemed to come to an end with the official announcement of an agreement to merge with Skydance Media in a complicated $8 billion dollar transaction. One of the caveats on that deal was to allow for a 45-day window where Paramount could consider other offers, ending today. Surprise! Paramount’s board has extended that deadline to evaluate a last-minute bid. Once again, the future of the company that owns Star Trek is in flux.
The Bronfman bid
The new $6 billion bid comes from an investor group led by by Edgar Bronfman Jr., former CEO of Warner Music Group. He is also an heir to the Seagram’s fortune. His last foray into the studio business was as the CEO of Seagram’s in the late ’90s when he diversified the spirits company with series acquisitions including MCA and Universal Pictures, leading to him stepping down as CEO of what was then Vivendi Universal in 2001.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Bronfman has secured $5.5 billion from 20 different backers, including former Baby Genius producer Steven Paul and crypto investor and former child actor Brock Pierce. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount’s special special committee for evaluating deals has extended the “go-shop” period for the Skydance merger until September 5th, giving them time to evaluate the new offer. The Bronfman bid includes $400 million that would be paid to Skydance if Paramount ends up taking the offer.
The Bronfman bid is a bit more straightforward than the Skydance offer, which involves valuing Skydance at $4.75 billion as it is merged with Paramount Global, which some investors have argued will dilute the value for regular shareholders. The Bronfman bid comes in $2 billion under the Skydance bid, however in a letter to Paramount’s board he argued that it is “far more valuable” because it “eliminates the risks, uncertainties, and costs of combining Paramount with Skydance.” Wall Street analysts are somewhat split on which is the better deal for Paramount and its investors as each has its own advantages. It has been noted that David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison (the fifth richest person in the world) have the deeper pockets. The previously announced agreement with Skydance does allow for them to make a counter-offer.
It is not clear what kind of vision Bronfman and his investors have for Paramount except it appears that intend to keep it intact, a key issue for controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. Bronfman’s offer letter to Paramount claimed his plan could double expected profits within a year and included $3 billion in cost cutting, which is $1 billion more than Skydance’s proposal. Bronfman is currently the chairman of the sports-focused streaming company FuboTV, which recently got a Federal judge to put put a proposed Disney/Warner Discovery/Fox sports streaming joint venture on hold, arguing it would “substantially lessen competition and restrain trade.” Paramount+ is already part of FuboTV’s highest-priced tier, but he could be looking to strengthen the relationship to face growing competition in streaming sports.
What of Star Trek?
As for Star Trek, it’s unclear what impact any of these business issues will have. Regardless of any deal, it is expected that Paramount Global’s current leadership will make good on their intention to find some kind of joint venture partner for Paramount+, home of all the new original shows and the exclusive streaming home the Star Trek film and TV library (in the USA). With the streaming wars coming to an end, licensing for the Star Trek library (and possibly for original programing) appears likely.
Paramount has already started the process on cutting $500 million in costs, including laying off 15% of the workforce last week. These cuts included shutting down Paramount Television Studios, with all current projects being absorbed by CBS Studios. Paramount Television was a vestige of the time Viacom and CBS were separate companies, but it was still actively producing several series including the new Apple TV+ show Time Bandits. All of the Star Trek series are produced by CBS Studios.
This is a developing story with many complicated questions left to be answered. TrekMovie will continue to monitor the situation and report on any major developments.
Keep up with all the corporate news that can impact Star Trek here at TrekMovie.com.
We wait. Paramount’s board may reject this, or give the parties more time to work something out. Someone else may roll in with an offer you can’t refuse. There’s still some rumbling of shareholder lawsuits as well. They’ll still be hashing this out into 2025.
Personally, as far as Trek’s concerned, I think all we’ll see is what’s in the pipe now. I’m definitely not holding my breath for a movie in 2026.
It’s Fubo. I doubt it will factor in to his calculation.
Bronfman ran Universal into the ground when he ran it. Why would Paramount’s owners want to sell to a guy with that track record?
The Board of Directors is looking for the best deal for shareholders. Not a ton matters beyond that. Remember, the real estate the studio sits on is worth more then the value of the business.
The telltale sign is that Wall Street appears divided, so likely the shareholders will be divided as well. Hard to say right now.
The offer started off at 4.2 BN and is now up to six billion. Shareholder money is up. Considering the beating the longer-term shareholders have taken on this dog, they may take what they can get.
That assumes the owners see their best interests being served by running the studio as a going concern. They may not see it that way. They may see selling it for parts as putting the most money in their offshore accounts.
Depending on who you read, Parmount’s physical studio could be worth as much as thirty billion. If the debt ridden business you just bought included a piece of real estate worth thirty billion, what would you do?
Hell, if I were Shari Redstone, why not get rid of that, and keep on keepin’ on with everything else.
It looks like a choice between Bronfman, who might be good for shareholders who then sell and scram before he drives Paramount right into the ground, or Ellison, who would be better for long term shareholders.
If Trek is sold off, our best option would be Netflix. They have deep pockets to produce Star Trek and distribute it worldwide. If Trek goes to Netflix? It goes worldwide on Netflix. No separate deals for separate countries.
the bad news (or maybe good news) is you would probably get nothing more than 2 seasons long. So if it’s good, that could be bad. If it sucks, then that’s good.
I thought about limited seasons when I wrote my post. Good point…
I could go on a rant about how the 10-15 episode seasons in TV have ruined long form storytelling, but that’s a whole different discussion. The short version is there are too many stories that should be movies, drug out to ten episodes, and they suck as a result. But then you have modern Star Trek, it’s more about character than plot and/or sci-fi, and Trek is just the backdrop. So if you could come up with two seasons of an interesting idea, with character development sprinkled in, it could be awesome. Andor comes to mind.. only planned for two seasons, and it’s fantastic. People gripe about the lack of Star Wars in that, but to me.. if it’s really good and the source material is more of a backdrop, if you do it well, I’m ok with that. To me, that’s what Trek has an opportunity to do. Get away from the superficiality of it all, and just come up with a great story. In that way, Netflix could be great.
It’s pretty rare for Netflix to do more than two seasons on anything. The new owners would likely just license out the IP to whoever ponies up the cash….
You know.. I don’t think Netflix would have a real interest in Star Trek. Which isn’t to say they wouldn’t try.
Apparently, Netflix once had hopes of becoming the streaming home for all Star Trek outside the US. That hope kind of dissipated when Picard went to Amazon Prime.
I’m not sure whether they would still be interested today (a lot has changed in the streaming world since Discovery debuted) but they did buy the rights to Prodigy when Paramount+ axed it.
The absolute best option would be Apple, which produces interesting and high quality sci fi. But Star Trek would get the biggest audience on Netflix.
We’d never get another theatrical Trek film again.
Maybe, it’s better that way.
Why? What’s wrong with seeing a movie in a movie theater? Depriving us of the chance to do that isn’t necessarily going to stop populist Trek films from getting made, so it’s not like their being tv movies instead of theatricals automatically means they’ll be better. Please expand on this idea so I can understand your thinking.
Baby Geniuses!!! Schlock producer, crypto investor and child TV actor. Save Star Trek! Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
This seems odd. 2 billion (with a B) dollars under? Not 2 million. Why would anyone entertain that? But what do I know.
As much as I’d love to see Star Trek on the big screen again I’d be far happier with year round Star Trek on the small screen like they promised but was never quite able to deliver. Still have Lower Desks this year and Section 31 next to look forward to.
It’s because part of Skydance’s offer values Skydance itself at $4.5 Billion (which many analysts think is somewhat inflated.)
The counter offer is more ‘cash up front’, and in some ways is a better deal for the stock holders of Paramount.
Sokath. His Eyes Uncovered! (He being me) Thank you!
You know.. if it’s good. There’s so much I could let go of. Movies vs. small screen. Canon. Fan service. All of my nitpicking criticisms go away when they just make something good. They do have moments. They got Pike as a character right in Disco Season 2. Haven’t since then, though.
Just sell Star Trek to Disney… Now Paramount is just being greedy.
We’d finally get Star Trek/Wars crossovers!
Judging by Disney’s own struggles with what to do with Star Wars, I don’t think Star Trek would be any better off with them.
Just imagine Trek at Disney World… The merch and parks ALONE!
Disney doesn’t want it. Paramount Global shares hit $95 in early 2021, now they are a bit over $11.00. Greed has nothing to do with it, shareholders just want to cut their losses before new owners put the dog out of its misery.
Disney wouldn’t prioritize it. They have Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, Pixar, The Simpsons and Alien already on top of their own money woes. No way in hell would they ever have made as much Star Trek as Paramount has in the last few years. And judging by the quality of the Marvel and Star Wars shows, I doubt anything they made would have been better.
People need to think things through instead of blurting this sort of thing out.
If Bronfman succeeds, Paramount will be broken up. You don’t get $3 billion in savings without MAJOR layoffs and asset sales, particularly with no merger here.
Won’t be the first time…..
The best that can be hoped for is the next movie be called star trek beyond paramount.
What are the chances that 20 – 30 people who won the lottery could also be Star Trek fans?
Most folks who win the lottery are bankrupt in a couple of years. If they all chipped in and bought Paramount…..they’d be bankrupt in a couple of years.
Neither of the two candidates have been very specific about what they would do to salvage Paramount but at least Ellison has the right resume. Bronfman’s media experience is in music. What does he know about Star Trek, or Mission Impossible, or any of it?
Maybe someone will make a movie about this s*** show in the future.
New wrinkle…Skydance is now accusing Paramount of breaching the terms of their merger agreement by negotiating with Bronfman (first reported by the WSJ, Deadline and The Wrap also confirmed it). Sent a letter basically threatening to terminate the deal unless Paramount stops talking to Bronfman.
Plot twist….
The way Paramount is going, there may not be a 4th season of SNW. Who knows about anything else.
Clear this up and give me my Star Trek Into The Multiverse movie with JJcast, Shatner (deaged), Stewart/TNG, Eric Bana, Chris Hemsworth, Alice Eve, and Bryan Cranston
That sounds like an absolute pipe dream at this point and probably way too expensive. They can’t seem to get anything off the ground and it’s now obvious there probably won’t be a movie made by the 60th anniveersety since it’s near September of 2024 and zero movement on anything. And it definitely won’t be another JJ verse movie since they said the Starfleet movie is supposed to be next.
I think JJ verse itself is done but I only been saying that for over 5 years now. 😂🙄
New Star Trek and Blade – 2 movies destined to be made.. sometime.. maybe
when will this all end….?
…and now Bronfman’s out. Looks like Paramount’s back to (Sky)dancin’.