Join Puck

Shari Redstone

The biggest impediment to a deal for the Redstone family’s NAI or Paramount Global is the change of control provision that would require any financial buyer to refinance $11.2 billion of Paramount’s senior notes.

The Apollo Vultures Are Circling Shari

Here’s what the apostles of private equity really want from the Redstone heirloom. “It’s the beginning of the end, not the end of the beginning,” as one wise banker told me.

William D. Cohan • January 24, 2024

William D. Cohan • January 14, 2024

Ellison’s Redstone Gambit & Ackman’s Endgame

Skydance Media C.E.O. David Ellison attends the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 7, 2024.

News and notes on the stories percolating with the Dune Road crowd: David Ellison’s pursuit of National Amusements, Jamie’s boffo number, and Bill Ackman’s relentless crusade against KKR and Axel Springer.

William D. Cohan • January 10, 2024

The Philadelphia Story

First up for Comcast’s Brian Roberts in 2024 is the pending deal for the one-third stake in Hulu that Comcast owns, and that Bob Iger has said that Disney will buy.

Analyzing the position and motivation of the media industry’s biggest dealmaker as the bankers begin to swarm.

Is Shari Redstone’s dalliance with the M&A market a bust, or is anyone seriously capable of buying the Frankenstein’s monster that is Paramount Global?

William D. Cohan • December 27, 2023

A Very Shari Christmas

Zaz & Co. have hired Allen & Co. to dig into the Paramount financials. Is this thing for real for now? Imagining the twists and turns and ultimate denouement of the House of Sumner.

Shari Restone’s media empire is worth more broken up into its constituent parts.

Julia Alexander • December 26, 2023

Paramount’s Sale, YouTube’s Trojan Horse & Netflix’s Next Gamble

News, notes, predictions, and cautionary tales for the streaming industry in ’24.

Dylan Byers • December 23, 2023

Can Zaz & Shari Go the Distance?

News and notes on the topics everyone is fulminating over as the holidays set in: Zazmount possibilities, Will Lewis’s forthcoming tenure at The Washington Post, and early grumblings from CNN on the Thompson era.

The task will be for Bob Bakish to sell Shari on this or another deal, all while Shari carries on her own talks for NAI.

Matthew Belloni • December 22, 2023

Warners, Paramount, and the Allure of Mutual Desperation

Notes on Zaslav’s leaked meeting with Bakish, the deal chatter choreography, and the Comcast of it all.

A combination of WBD and Paramount, even with a sale of various cable assets, would offer Zaz a true gem in many ways.

Dylan Byers • December 21, 2023

Zazmount Global & WaPo Gridlock

News and notes on the biggest stories roiling the industry: the Zaz-Shari deal possibilities and Will Lewis’s arrival at the union-torn, money-losing Washington Post.

Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements, walks to a morning session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 12, 2023 in Sun Valley, Idaho.

William D. Cohan • December 20, 2023

Shari’s Double-Trigger Deal Cooler

David Ellison and Gerry Cardinale’s oh-so-clever plan to seize Paramount Global through NAI would also have to contend with a potential $11.2 billion landmine: the crushing debt that would immediately come due if Wall Street downgrades Paramount’s credit rating.

The argument for breaking up Shari Redstone’s Paramount Global, of course, is that its parts would be worth more than the whole.

Julia Alexander • December 20, 2023

What Is Paramount Actually Worth?

Exploring the value, and content synergies, among CBS, Nickelodeon, and the Taylor Sheridan Cinematic Universe, among other assets within Paramount Global.