We’ve entered the perfect deal dynamic for the partnership between Apollo and Sony to pounce on Paramount Global. To nearly everyone’s surprise, two weeks ago, Shari Redstone, the company’s controlling shareholder, blew up the long-anticipated deal that her advisors, and the special committee of the board of directors, had negotiated with David Ellison and RedBird Capital. As my faithful readers know, Ellison and RedBird were going to buy National Amusements Inc., the Redstone family holding company that controls Paramount Global, and then merge Ellison’s Skydance Media into Paramount, with the combined company remaining a publicly traded entity. It was a complicated, creative deal that was on the 1-yard line before Shari pulled the football away. 

But to those who think the Paramount deal process is dead, think again. The special committee of the Paramount board of directors remains impaneled and waiting to see what turns up next. And no firm loves a busted deal more than Apollo, which generally shuns auctions anyway and likes to swoop into dicey situations that require tenacity, risk tolerance, and capital, and where other bidders have thrown up their hands in frustration.