Barry Diller’s IAC explores bid to take control of Paramount, source says

Industry:    4 months ago

Billionaire Barry Diller’s digital-media conglomerate IAC is exploring a bid to take control of Paramount Global, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

IAC has entered into non-disclosure agreements with National Amusements, which holds the Redstone family’s controlling interest in Paramount, the person said.

Shari Redstone, controlling shareholder of National Amusements, abruptly ended talks with David Ellison’s Skydance Media last month, killing the potential sale of a stake in Paramount Global to the independent studio.

IAC said it does not comment on rumors or speculation, while Reuters could not immediately reach Redstone for comment.

Earlier in the day, CNBC reported that Paramount was holding talks with other media and tech companies to determine a viable structure where its streaming platform Paramount+ can be merged with another streaming entity and potentially co-owned.

Fears of market saturation have forced media companies to bundle their streaming businesses and offer discounted rates to lure customers who are wary of signing up and paying for numerous individual services.

Warner Bros Discovery is one of the companies that has expressed an interest in a joint venture, merging its Max and Paramount+, CNBC added.

Paramount and Warner declined to comment on the report.

While a structure for a hypothetical joint venture between Paramount and Warner has not been discussed in detail, ownership likely would not be a 50-50 split, given the existing nature of the streaming assets and their finances, per the report.

Paramount’s streaming service has more than 71 million subscribers, far less than Netflix’s 269.60 million and Warner’s 99.6 million.

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