Business
2024-04-22-paramount-global-site

Multiple bidders want to buy Paramount Global’s sprawling media assets

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Paramount Global's stock soared 13% on Friday, following reports that Sony was considering joining Apollo's bid to purchase the historic film and TV studio. The news comes after a previous $26 billion Apollo offer was rejected by Paramount's board.

Currently, the Sony-Apollo partnership is unable to get back in the picture with Paramount, as the studio is in exclusive merger talks with Skydance Media — a deal that, for the most part, shareholders don’t love.

One of the most storied brands in entertainment — having produced cinematic hits such as The Godfather, Titanic, Forrest Gump, and both Top Gun films — Paramount has a complicated history of owners... and an equally complicated modern corporate structure. Despite owning less than 10% of the company, 77% of the voting rights are controlled by the Redstone family through a holding entity called National Amusements.

Today, Paramount is a sprawling collection of assets. Its main moneymaker is the TV Media division, centered around CBS’s long tail of channels, which makes revenue from affiliate deals, advertising, and licensing content. The streaming business, Paramount+, has made a big splash in the crowded direct-to-consumer segment… but it’s also racking up big losses, and contributing less than a quarter to its total revenue.

This is just the latest chapter in the Paramount sale saga — a Warner Bros. merger that was on the cards late last year eventually fell apart, leaving the company somewhat rudderless until the latest round of M&A rumors started. Paramount shares are down 16% since the start of the year.

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Paramount is expected to raise its Warner Bros. offer to $32 per share

Paramount’s seven-day window to talk to Warner Bros. Discovery about its best and final offer is set to end at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, and the company is expected to finally raise the per-share dollar amount of its bid.

According to reporting by Variety, Paramount’s revised offer is likely to arrive at $32 per share for the HBO and CNN parent.

Paramount’s last major revision to its offer came earlier this month, when it said it would cover the $2.8 billion breakup fee that WBD would owe Netflix in the event of that deal falling apart, and would pay shareholders a “ticking fee” of $0.25 per share for every quarter the deal hasn’t closed after the end of 2026.

Netflix’s next move will be determined by the response of Warner Bros.’ board. Per reporting by Reuters, the streamer has ample cash to increase its own offer for its streaming rival. Analysts at MoffettNathanson Research last week said they expect Netflix to walk away from Warner Bros. if Paramount’s bid comes in “well beyond” $32.

As of Monday at 9 a.m. ET, prediction markets speculating on which company will ultimately come out on top of the bidding war have Netflix at a 46% chance over Paramount’s 43% odds.

Also potentially affecting prediction markets is a Truth Social post by President Trump on Sunday, in which Trump wrote that Netflix must fire board member Susan Rice immediately or "pay the consequences."

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

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Paramount’s last major revision to its offer came earlier this month, when it said it would cover the $2.8 billion breakup fee that WBD would owe Netflix in the event of that deal falling apart, and would pay shareholders a “ticking fee” of $0.25 per share for every quarter the deal hasn’t closed after the end of 2026.

Netflix’s next move will be determined by the response of Warner Bros.’ board. Per reporting by Reuters, the streamer has ample cash to increase its own offer for its streaming rival. Analysts at MoffettNathanson Research last week said they expect Netflix to walk away from Warner Bros. if Paramount’s bid comes in “well beyond” $32.

As of Monday at 9 a.m. ET, prediction markets speculating on which company will ultimately come out on top of the bidding war have Netflix at a 46% chance over Paramount’s 43% odds.

Also potentially affecting prediction markets is a Truth Social post by President Trump on Sunday, in which Trump wrote that Netflix must fire board member Susan Rice immediately or "pay the consequences."

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

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business

Microsoft makes dramatic shake-up to its gaming division as gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox President Sarah Bond depart

Microsoft’s gaming division underwent a major shake-up on Friday, as the tech giant announced the departure of gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who led the division for 12 years and championed its Game Pass subscription service.

Xbox President Sarah Bond is also out, according to Spencer’s memo to employees.

Xbox has fallen significantly behind rivals Sony and Nintendo in recent years. Microsoft raised Xbox console prices twice last year and bumped subscription fees up 50%. In November, the console was even outsold (in unit sales) by the motion-controlled Nex Playground console.

The pair have overseen a shift at Xbox from standard consoles to an array of consoles, handhelds, and various devices and screens accessed via cloud gaming.

Spencer’s replacement as the head of gaming is Microsoft’s president of CoreAI product, Asha Sharma. In a memo to staff, Sharma made three commitments: great games, the “return of Xbox,” and to “invent new business models and new ways to play.”

Xbox has fallen significantly behind rivals Sony and Nintendo in recent years. Microsoft raised Xbox console prices twice last year and bumped subscription fees up 50%. In November, the console was even outsold (in unit sales) by the motion-controlled Nex Playground console.

The pair have overseen a shift at Xbox from standard consoles to an array of consoles, handhelds, and various devices and screens accessed via cloud gaming.

Spencer’s replacement as the head of gaming is Microsoft’s president of CoreAI product, Asha Sharma. In a memo to staff, Sharma made three commitments: great games, the “return of Xbox,” and to “invent new business models and new ways to play.”

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Judge rejects Tesla’s attempt to overturn $243 million verdict over fatal 2019 autopilot crash

Tesla’s effort to appeal a $243 million jury verdict related to a fatal 2019 crash that occurred when a Tesla vehicle was in self-driving mode was rejected by a federal judge in a ruling made public on Friday.

Tesla is expected to appeal the decision to a higher court.

The case was the first federal lawsuit surrounding an autopilot death to go to a jury trial for Tesla. In August, a jury found the automaker 33% responsible for the 2019 crash. The jury determined that Tesla was partly to blame for enabling the driver to take his eyes off the road, and the company was ordered to pay an additional $200 million in punitive damages.

Tesla reportedly turned down a $60 million settlement offer prior to the trial. According to Electrek, dozens of similar cases involving the EV maker are working through the court system.

This month, Tesla stopped using the term “autopilot” in its marketing in order to avoid a sales ban in California. Tesla appears to have replaced the term with “Traffic Aware Cruise Control” and added “supervised” to its mentions of Full Self-Driving tech.

The case was the first federal lawsuit surrounding an autopilot death to go to a jury trial for Tesla. In August, a jury found the automaker 33% responsible for the 2019 crash. The jury determined that Tesla was partly to blame for enabling the driver to take his eyes off the road, and the company was ordered to pay an additional $200 million in punitive damages.

Tesla reportedly turned down a $60 million settlement offer prior to the trial. According to Electrek, dozens of similar cases involving the EV maker are working through the court system.

This month, Tesla stopped using the term “autopilot” in its marketing in order to avoid a sales ban in California. Tesla appears to have replaced the term with “Traffic Aware Cruise Control” and added “supervised” to its mentions of Full Self-Driving tech.

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