Media mogul Barry Diller, who headed Paramount Pictures for a decade 40 years ago, is considering a bid for Paramount Global, according to a report in the New York Times.
Citing four individuals “with knowledge of the matter,” the Times said on Monday (July 1) that Diller’s digital media company IAC has signed non-disclosure agreements with National Amusements, Paramount Global’s majority shareholder.
Paramount Global had no comment on the report. National Amusements did not respond immediately to a request for comment and IAC said it “doesn’t comment on rumours or speculation.”
Diller was CEO of Paramount Pictures from 1974 to 1984, overseeing the studio during a hugely successful run that saw the release of Saturday Night Fever, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Grease and Beverly Hills Cop.
Diller moved on to 20th Century Fox and then the QVC shopping network but in the early nineties tried to buy Paramount, losing out to Viacom.
The report of Diller’s interest comes three weeks after National Amusements called off long-running merger talks with David Ellison’s Skydance Media that were about to see control of Paramount changing hands.
Last week, in the wake of the collapse of the Skydance talks, Paramount Global’s co-CEOs told a town hall meeting of employees that the company had hired bankers to explore asset sales and was in talks about partnerships in international streaming.
Meanwhile, in another report this week on the studio’s future, CNBC said Paramount Global is holding talks about merging its streaming platform Paramount+ with another studio’s streaming service. The report suggested that a combination with Warner Bros Discovery’s Max is one possible arrangement. Warner Bros Discovery was reported late last year to have held overall merger talks with Paramount Global, but the talks apparently did not go beyond their initial stages.
In spite of the dramatic end to negotiations with Skydance, National Amusements’ largest shareholder Shari Redstone is still thought to be open to selling the company’s Paramount Global stake. Groups led by former studio mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr and producer Steven Paul are believed to be among other potential buyers.
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