(Reuters) – Sony Footage Leisure and Apollo International Administration have signed nondisclosure agreements that may enable them to take a look at Paramount’s books forward of a possible bid for the film studio’s belongings, the New York Instances reported on Friday, citing folks accustomed to the matter.
The businesses are, nonetheless, backing away from an preliminary plan to make an all-cash $26 billion provide for Paramount, the newspaper stated.
Reuters reported this month that Paramount was in talks to open its books to a consortium of the Sony film unit and the U.S. buyout agency. CNBC later reported that Sony was rethinking its bid, sending Paramount’s shares tumbling and serving to the Japanese agency’s shares surge after upbeat earnings.
Sony and Apollo are actually considering a wide range of approaches to accumulate Paramount’s belongings, the New York Instances stated.
Paramount declined to touch upon the report, whereas Sony and Apollo didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark late Friday.
Like different studios, Paramount has been struggling to recuperate from final 12 months’s months-long strikes by Hollywood writers and actors, a delicate promoting market and falling cable subscriptions in america which have eroded earnings for its TV enterprise.
Paramount has additionally been speaking with Skydance Media however earlier this month ended a interval of exclusivity within the negotiations.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Edwina Gibbs)
