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Paramount Global shares jumped after hours Thursday — (NASDAQ: PAR) +11.5%(NASDAQ: PARAA) +6.4% — on the news that Sony Pictures Entertainment (SONY) has joined the fray to acquire the venerable studio company.
Sony (SONY) spoke with Apollo Global Management (APO) on a joint bid to acquire Paramount, The New York Times reportedciting people familiar with the situation.
This comes even though Paramount is still in an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance Media to merge the two companies. Paramount moved forward with Skydance despite a $26 billion cash offer from Apollo, considered a superior offer by many shareholders.
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra spoke to Apollo last week about a possible joint all-cash offering NOW reported.
While terms are far from finalized, one structure could involve Apollo taking a minority stake in a joint venture with Sony becoming majority owner and operator — and Apollo could later cash out, possibly selling back to Sony, according to the relationship.